When the Mets signed Luke Voit to a minor-league deal and sent him to Triple-A Syracuse last week, it made a lot of sense from the standpoint of depth. Upon hearing the news, I said I’d be fine with it under two specific conditions that no longer apply.
First of all, I didn’t want him to take at-bats away from Mark Vientos. Well, he’s already back down in the minors after Pete Alonso returned from the injured list. I also said that Daniel Vogelbach better be the roster casualty if Voit gets a chance in the big leagues.
But right on cue, Vogey’s bat has come to life after getting a few days off. So there’s no way he’s going anywhere now, no matter how one-dimensional he is on the Mets’ roster. But maybe the former Yankees first baseman will be joining Vogey soon to be part of New York’s platoon at designated hitter?
Voit has played in seven games with Triple-A Syracuse, and his results have been even more eye-popping than those of Gary Sanchez before his own promotion. Through 31 plate appearances, Voit is hitting .278/.581/.944 with three home runs, one double, one triple, nine RBI, eight runs scored, and a 38.7% walk rate. All of this susses out to a 249 wRC+ and 1.525 OPS.
That's grown-man strength from Luke Voit 💪 pic.twitter.com/Ed0dvYe9HB
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) June 23, 2023
There hasn’t been any public reporting on whether Voit’s MiLB deal includes an opt-out clause or not. So for now, we can just speculate. He had one with the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this year, and it’s common for veterans like him to have it included in a deal.
We can assume he has one, but we also have no idea when it is. I’m going to venture a guess and say July 1st, which is eight days away as I sit here writing this article. The Mets’ offense hasn’t been a huge problem over the last month or so. But, if Voit continues raking, it makes little sense to not give him a chance to see if it can translate in the big leagues. It didn’t for Sanchez during his very small opportunity with New York, but he did catch fire with the San Diego Padres.
New York needs to figure out the pitching staff, but this is at least worth a shot, right? If they’re not going to give Vientos consistent playing time to see if he can be part of the solution right now, they might as well see what Voit has left in the tank.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
