Brett Baty starts his Mets second base journey with same lingering questions

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.HOUSTON — Brett Baty had a good idea what message he was about to receive when he got summoned to the manager’s office on the final day of spring training, but that didn’t dull the occasion any. He had earned a spot on the Mets’ Opening Day roster. “It’s excitement when Mendy told me,” Baty said, referring to manager Carlos Mendoza.

“I put in a lot of work this offseason and it paid off.” It took an injury — Jeff McNeil has been sidelined with a strained oblique — and Baty had to look comfortable enough playing second base to warrant the roster spot.Baty passed the test, and Friday received his first major league start at second base. The Mets are counting on Baty to handle the position with Luisangel Acuña until McNeil returns, likely by late April.Baty’s left-handed power potential is a welcomed addition to a top-heavy lineup. Even so, the impressive numbers the 25-year-old Baty produced in the Grapefruit League are irrelevant.

Baty has to show he can handle major league pitching when the games count, something that has been a challenge for him the last two seasons. But Mendoza doesn’t want Baty thinking in those terms once he enters the batter’s box.Such a message was imparted to the player. “Don’t feel like you have to get four hits, three hits, every day to be in the lineup,” Mendoza said.

“Let us make those decisions.Control what you can control.

Trust the work.We saw the results in spring training.

Now it’s up to him to just go out there and continue to be himself and trust the work.” Baty said he won’t put pressure on himself to start the season with big numbers. “I can go out there and go 0-for-20 to start the season or I could go 20-for-20,” he said.“In baseball you never know.

You just stay the course and stay even and go out there and play hard.” Baty w...