6’4” Uber-Power Hitting Mark Vientos
Boy, the arm chair prognosticators are finding every real or perceived Mark Vientos flaw.
Trade him! Send him down!
May I again be Mark’s attorney for the defense? Here goes:
I noted in early 2021 in an article that Mark Vientos got off to a slow start in 2021, likely for 2 reasons: 1) no 2020 games, and 2) he skipped a level and needed some adjustment time.
Thereafter…he got hot.
I wrote further into 2021 about the Mark Man during a flat-out tear in AA:
“From June 9 until I sat today in this beach chair, Vientos hit .325 in 199 at bats, with 21 HRs and 50 RBIs.” Stunning stretch, huh?
Fast forward to 2022…
The whole AAA team was hitting terribly in frigid April Syracuse weather. (Hint to owners: night games in early April in Syracuse require hypothermia recovery equipment). The whole team hit .211 in April 2022, above .200 only because a remarkable little guy named Wyatt Young was promoted from A ball to AAA in 2022 and simply scorched at the plate.
After going a frigid 10 for 64 with a HR and 6 RBIs in April, when the ball doesn’t carry, for the rest of the 2022 AAA season, Vientos did this:
96 for 312, 22 HR, 66 RBIs, 37 BB, 101K.
Add the 2 extended minors hot streak stats from 2021 and 2022 (admittedly cherry picking a bit here, but to make a point), you get:
.313, 157 hits in 501 at bats, 44 HRs, 116 RBIs.
What would that be over 600 at bats? Do the Math. And…
Consider how young he was when he did the above.
Stop and admire - dang.
Go ahead, say it out loud: DANG!
Yes, his Ks are a bit high, 101 Ks in 340 at bats during his 2022 hot streak, and his rate was gradually declining as the season went on, to which I say:
He was a very young power-hitting right hitter producing HUGE HR #s who was adapting to hitting high minors tougher righties.
But look at those hitting #s.
And tell me your first, overwhelming urge, is TRADE HIM WHILE YOU CAN!
MIne is KEEP HIM OR YOU’LL SURELY REGRET IT.
P.S.
He destroyed lefties in AAA in 2022: .330/.408/.772
So I guess he can’t hit righties?
Well, no, in 2021, he did NOT hit lefties well, but murdered righties.
Equal opportunity assassin.
Defense? Fine first baseman, 3B a struggle for him error-wise, can play left field, strong arm, but…young guys usually continue to improve defensively.
Case closed.
19 comments:
I agree that Vientos should play, but where?
There us no room on third, the DH looks set this year and the emergence of Mauricio sets him back one more prospect slot
I watched him play first. A shot was hit in the hole and he didn't even make a move toward short to stab it.
You have to have a natural instincts to play a corner and he doesn't have enough experience to play there either.
Let him wear an overcoat if necessary in April, but he needs to play every day to work on his K rate and defense at a position. ANY position he can handle, but most likely LF if he's going to remain a Met.
Gotcha on D, Mack
Bill, true, but consider the extreme power #s and high average in those 2 segments. A lot that is right is going on.
Too bad he doesn't play short.
Would be a great trade piece with LAD for young prospect startet
Mack, to free up space, Pham and Escobar gone at y/e, and Ruf gone soon. A few normal injuries perhaps, and playing time will unfold. I think Vogie’s last year as a Met, too. Then, plenty of room for all 4 Uber hitters next year. This year, tight.
Vientos briefly played SS. That ship quickly sailed
Hey,send him to Syracuse and let’s see if he can hit himself a shot at DH/LF.
Woodrow, he is getting a lot of ABs early, much to the team’s credit.
With the hitters heading to WBC, see full lit of Mets hitter/pitchers below, he will get his real spring shot to “win it in camp”
The full list of Mets WBC participantsis as follows:
• Pete Alonso, 1B, USA
• Jonathan Araúz, INF, Panama
• Edwin Díaz, RHP, Puerto Rico
• Eduardo Escobar, INF/OF, Venezuela
• Dominic Hamel, RHP, Puerto Rico
• Elieser Hernandez, RHP, Venezuela
• Francisco Lindor, SS, Puerto Rico
• Jeff McNeil, 2B, USA
• Humberto Mejia, RHP, Panama
• Omar Narváez, C, Venezuela
• Cam Opp, LHP, Great Britain
• Adam Ottavino, RHP, USA
• José Quintana, LHP, Colombia
• Brooks Raley, LHP, USA
• Claudio Scotti, RHP, Italy
.
Great read ! I would let Mauricio play out an entire season at AAA with maybe a cup of coffee in September.
And on another note Mack , what’s your take on Mets draft strategy for this season -I understand it’s usually “best available “ but will Eppler be more inclined to bring in some much needed pitching as they are awfully thin down there in the minors ? Thanks
-Lenny P
Vientos should at least be our right handed DH. We really don't have any other good options
Lenny P, thanks. The last two seasons, we frankly got “Jaked”, a term defined as having a cornerstone pitcher who turns into the Invisible Man. If that is not repeated in 2023, let’s say Verlander gives us 178 innings, needs shrink and some kid pitchers might be ready as needed in mid-2024. Jake gave us an average of 78 innings the past 2 seasons. Draw your own conclusions there.
Lenny
I hope he goes pitching for.both his first two picks
Already 4 great starters lost to TJS that were originally projected fot1st round
I would go RHP Teddy McGraw with my second pick
Hoping for Hunter Owen LHP-Vandy , but let’s see.
Also, is the 6-man rotation still a thing to start the season or was that more smoke than anything?
-Lenny P
My guess smoke
Draft the best available player,if he’s a pitcher that’s great.
Vientos 3 hits, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs? COMPELLING, HUH?
NY Post on Vientos yesterday…
With Ronny Mauricio and Brett Baty coming off the bench, Saturday was Mark Vientos’ turn to run with the Mets’ prospect baton and wreck opposing pitching.
“Swaggy V,” as the clubbies have dubbed him, demolished a pair of home runs and became the latest promising young Mets hitter to make noise.
In the first weeks of spring training, the team’s top prospects have performed like top prospects.
“Finally,” Vientos said after his first two dingers of the spring. “I was messing around with Brett and Ronnie the other day. I was like, ‘You guys got some, I gotta get me one.’ I finally got two today.”
Through the Mets’ first nine Grapefruit League games, Mauricio, Baty and Vientos are a combined 18-for-47 (.383) with six home runs.
Vientos, a corner infielder who also is getting his feet wet in the outfield, had gotten off to a slow start before he crushed three of the five hardest-hit balls of the game in a 15-4 win over the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium.
Mark Vientos hit a pair of homers in the Mets’ spring training game against the Marlins on March 4.
Against lefty Jesus Luzardo, the righty-hitting Vientos smacked a 107.7-mph single up the middle in the first inning.
After striking out in the third inning, he homered to dead center in the fourth and fifth innings against a pair of righties, Justin Evans and Dylan Floro. His second, in particular, was a no-doubter, traveling an estimated 469 feet.
For Vientos, who has massive opposite-field power, sending pitches straight back up the middle was an encouraging sign.
“The past two days, I was trying to feel something with my approach. And obviously, [going up the middle is] how the work starts off,” the 23-year-old said. “Previous days, it’s like, ‘All right, this is starting to feel good.’ … So I was just trying to feel something on my swing and today, that was good.”
The Mets’ starting infielders all are set to leave for the World Baseball Classic on Sunday, so there will be more opportunities for prospects such as Vientos to prove themselves, though there are more questions over the slugger’s glove than his bat.
Of the 16 major league games Vientos played as a September call-up last season, just two came at third base.
He struggled at the spot in Triple-A and began shifting to first base, then was promoted and consistently employed as a DH or a pinch-hitter.
Vientos, who has been leaning upon Eduardo Escobar in camp, got the start at third Saturday.
He said he worked this offseason on his agility and first-step quickness, trying to improve defensively.
Mark Vientos,
Mark Vientos, left, is one of the Mets’ top-ranked prospects.
“My focus [this offseason] is to play every single day in the major leagues,” Vientos said. “Whether it’s first, third, I want to play every single day and help this team as much as I can.”
Baty is also a third baseman, though Vientos’ true competition around camp might be Tommy Pham and Darin Ruf, both righty hitters who have made careers pounding opposing lefties.
Pham also helps in left field, while Ruf, who has been sidelined early with a wrist issue, could be the backup first baseman.
“We all know the hit tool has got the chance to be pretty good,” manager Buck Showalter said of Vientos. “He’s working hard [defensively]. … I think he understands how important being somebody you can trust on both sides of the ball is.”
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