ATLANTA — Josh Satin intends to hold Marlon Byrd to his promise.
Before departing the Mets in a trade to the Pirates last week, the veteran Byrd told his Southern California neighbor Satin he will spend time this offseason teaching him to play the outfield.
Satin, a corner infielder, views an outfield education as something that could enhance his value to the Mets.
“Realistically, I know the only way I’m going to be able to be on this team in the future is being able to play multiple positions,” said Satin, who stroked two doubles in the Mets’ 13-5 loss to the Braves yesterday. “That’s my hope, that I can show I can play a couple of different spots.”
Satin, who has doubled in three straight games, started at first base yesterday, and later moved to third.
“I’ve got a promise from Marlon Byrd that after I’m done with my wedding in November that he would train me on how to be an outfielder,” Satin said. “Now that he’s gone, let’s see if he lives up to that.
“I’m going to be all over him, calling him every day to work with me, because that’s a big key, being able to fill in out there will definitely help me.”
* Tim Byrdak’s first major league appearance of the season was a success: the lefty reliever pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, four days short of the one-year anniversary of surgery to repair the anterior capsule in his left shoulder.
Byrdak departed after retiring Brian McCann to begin the fifth.
“[Anthony] Recker went out when [manager] Terry [Collins] came out and said, ‘They can’t take you out, you’re dealing right now,’ ” Byrdak said. “I said, ‘I can’t feel my legs.’ It’s a situation where you don’t know what’s going to happen. You’ve worked hard to get back to this level and want to get as many outs as you can up here.”
* Vic Black, the reliever acquired from the Pirates as part of the trade for Byrd andJohn Buck, made his Mets debut by retiring Andrelton Simmons to conclude the sixth inning. … Zach Lutz got his first career RBI with a double in the fourth inning. It was Lutz’s third major league hit.