QUEENS, N.Y. — New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is “very optimistic,” that third baseman Brett Baty will avoid a stint on the injured list after encountering left hamstring tightness during Tuesday night’s victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I saw him a while ago and it looks like we caught it early here,” Mendoza said on Wednesday prior to his team’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “He’s still day-to-day, but overall, early reports are encouraging.
“We’ll go day-by-day but the early reports are we should be alright.”
Zack Short was given the nod to start in Baty’s place at third base on Wednesday afternoon.
Baty suffered the injury when lunging for the first-base bag while trying to leg out an infield single to lead off the fifth inning. He was replaced by Joey Wendle, who eventually doubled in the tying run in the seventh inning of the 3-1 win.
The 24-year-old suffered a similar issue last summer but only wound up missing parts of two games.
Promising early prognoses should provide some relief for the Mets. Baty has come out of the gates strong to start a season in which he has to prove to president of baseball operations David Stearns that he can bolster down the hot corner for the foreseeable future.
In 17 games, he’s batting .305 with a .732 OPS with one home run and nine RBI.
“I think Brett has done a really nice job of solidifying third base,” Stearns said. “He’s playing a very quality third base over there.”
