PORT ST. LUCIE — The rookies took their best shot, but it wasn’t enough to earn them spots on the Mets’ Opening Day roster.
Brett Baty and Mark Vientos have been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, the team announced Saturday, in a wave of roster moves.
Baty excelled at third base this spring, and Vientos had improved his stock with solid work at first and third base.
The 23-year-old Baty was among the Mets’ best performers this spring.
He posted a .325/.460/.425 slash line with three homers and seven RBIs, receiving an extended look while Eduardo Escobar was participating in the World Baseball Classic.
“[Baty] started off well for us, he tailed off, but it bodes well for us down the line,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He really showed that his defense has a chance to be up to par.”
Baty played only six games at Triple-A after his promotion to Syracuse last season before he was called up to the Mets after Escobar was injured. Baty appeared in 11 games in the majors before a torn thumb ligament ended his season.
Overall, Baty has played 237 career games in the minor leagues.
Mets general manager Billy Eppler compared that number to the amount of time star third basemen Nolan Arenado and Austin Riley spent in the minor leagues. Each played more than 400 games in the minors.
“You learn by playing a lot,” Eppler said. “While [Baty] had a great camp and we are really excited about his future there are just some more development markers left for him to reach. He’ll go down and probably carry a lot that he consumed here and we are real excited about his future, the type of kid he is, what he does in the batter’s box, but also the strides he made defensively.”
Vientos, 23, produced a .278/.310/.481 slash line with two homers and 11 RBIs this spring.
“In the cases with those two players, with Brett and Mark, we’re looking for a complete baseball player,” Eppler said. “We’re looking for guys we can trust in the batter’s box, on the bases and trust defensively. The ultimate goal here is to bring championship caliber players to this ballclub.”
Infield coach Joey Cora was present in separate meetings with Baty and Vientos, to inform them of the decisions, according to Eppler, so the players’ defensive strides this spring could be reinforced.
Eppler said it is possible either player could earn his way onto the major league roster this season without an injury to a starter.
“Those guys both took it very professionally,” Eppler said. “They know. They understand. They see the board and the bigger plan, the bigger vision. I’m really happy with how they just approached everything in camp.
“You have got to think about the long game. You have got to think about the 162 we’re going to play over the 183 days so we’re not positioning a roster for a three-game, win-or go-home-series or a five-game or seven-game series right now. We’re positioning the roster to manage all the way through September and with our status maybe October.”
If the Mets were going to keep Baty or Vientos, that likely would have come at the expense of Darin Ruf, who has struggled this spring after an underwhelming two-month stint with the club after arriving at the trade deadline last season.
Eppler was asked if he’s committed to a roster spot for Ruf.
“We haven’t announced the Opening Day roster yet — we’ll announce that at 11:59 [a.m.] on Thursday,” Eppler said. “OK?”
The Mets reassigned Zach Muckenhirn, Denyi Reyes, Michael Perez, Jonathan Arauz, Jose Peraza and DJ Stewart to minor league camp.