This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Since calling Brett Baty into his office at the end of Spring Training to inform him he didn’t make the team, Mets manager Buck Showalter has frequently referenced that conversation as a testament to Baty’s character. The Mets’ second-ranked prospect had been one of the organization’s best hitters all spring and a notably improved defender. Statistically speaking, he deserved to make the club. When he didn’t, Baty refrained from sulking, complaining or pleading his case. He simply absorbed the news, hopped a flight to Syracuse and continued to rake.

Over nine games at Triple-A, Baty hit .400/.500/.886 with five home runs and 15 RBIs. Although legions of Mets fans saw those numbers and screamed for the team to call him back up to the Majors, Baty tuned out the noise.

“I’m going to be honest with you, it was really not in my mind,” he said after the Mets finally made Baty’s return official on Monday. “I try to be as present as possible wherever I am and just take it pitch to pitch and day by day. I was playing well, but now it’s a new test to tackle.”

That test is back in the Majors, where if Baty plays well, he has a chance to stick for the rest of his career. As Showalter put it, “I don’t know how you can do much more than he’s done down there.” Baty is now set to receive some significant run in the Majors, starting every day against right-handed pitchers and perhaps from time to time against lefties. Debuting Monday against Dodgers righty Dustin May, Baty pulled an RBI single into right field as part of a 1-for-4 night.

If he continues succeeding in that manner, few will remember that he spent the first three weeks of this season in the Minors.

“Like I said all Spring Training, it wasn’t my decision,” Baty said. “I just kind of had to roll with it. I was grateful for the opportunity to go down there and play with those guys, and grateful for this opportunity to come up here.”

The scouting report on Baty hasn’t changed. He’s still a pure left-handed hitter with plenty of pop, defensively raw at third base but improving in that regard. One of the oldest high schoolers in his Draft class, Baty is already 23 and physically mature. The Mets consider him a cornerstone of their future, as a player under team control through the 2028 season.

This is Baty’s time to shine. Said Showalter: “I think Brett will be up to the challenge.”