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The offseason was in its infancy when Brett Baty decided it was time to go back to work. 

The Mets had been knocked out of the postseason by the Dodgers, and Baty was back home in Texas in October, which was “really early for a pro hitter to start thinking about hitting,” said Aaron Capista, who would become his personal hitting coach. 

Baty was coming off another disappointing season, the high-ceilinged prospect losing his everyday third base job in May and spending most of his June and all of his July, August and September with Triple-A Syracuse. Despite unique ability and excellent minor league numbers, he owned a .607 OPS across his first 169 major league games. 

After the Mets’ NLCS defeat, Baty’s agent, Ryan Ware — who had heard about Capista and received strong endorsements — connected Baty to the Austin-based hitting coach. The two had a meeting, hit it off and wasted no time.