The anticipation began Tuesday. Brett Baty, the Mets’ 2019 first-round pick and now a top-30-odd prospect in the sport, would be joining the team in Atlanta to help salvage what was left of a rivalry series. Let’s freaking go, said the Mets fans in your life, except it probably wasn’t freaking.
If you’re a Yankees fan, the hype picked up Wednesday morning. In addition to previous cup-of-coffee drinker Estevan Florial, infielder Oswaldo Cabrera — who had been tearing the cover off the ball at Triple-A — was getting called up to make his big league debut. Finally, exclaimed those fed up with watching a lifeless Yankees lineup. Let’s see what the kid’s got.
Then it was an afternoon spent waiting on lineup cards. He’s starting at third base? Where’s he batting in the order? What number is he wearing? It’s that special brand of excitement that attains to baseball prospects — you’ve spent years hearing their names, reading about their exploits, dreaming on their projections, but chances are you’ve never actually seen them play, outside of maybe some low-res social media highlights.
In Cabrera’s case, the real thing was altogether less exhilarating. The 23-year-old from Venezuela went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, going down swinging at some Corey Kluber filth. (Florial went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.)
