Reese Kaplan -- To the Mets DH Means "Doesn't Hit"

For the 2022 season the National League made a gesture to unify the approach to baseball used in the American League since 1973.  50 years ago the junior circuit implemented the Designated HItter (DH) to replace the often comically useless at-bats by pitchers but the senior circuit held onto tradition.  Finally the DH came to the National League and for the New York Mets the very concept has been much like trying to find an ethical person holding political office.  

If you think I'm taking a cheap shot at the ballclub (or politicians), let me recite for you the list of Designated Hitters the Mets felt were answers to this extra offensive turn in the batting order.  Hopefully you have a strong stomach.  Daniel Vogelbach leads the pack with 49 games in 2022.  He was followed closely by JD Davis with 46.  

Remember Dom Smith?  How about Darrin Ruf?  Then there was PED poster child Robinson Cano.  Eduardo Escobar got a few turns there.  Even Luis Guillorme had the letters DH next to his name in a pair of games.  There were others but they were even more nondescript.   I've excluded regular players getting a day of rest like Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor.

What's really strange about this 101 season of delusional DH output is that the Cooperstown bound manager Buck Showalter spent the majority of his career in the AL with the DH as a regular part of his lineup.  To be fair, he's not the one swinging the bat and can only slot in the position players he's been given.  Still, it was a horror show for the Mets last season and the DH (if you remember the H stands for "Hitter") led the team with 183 strikeouts.  It would seem that the execution was laughingly bad.

So after the offseason came and went with Steve Cohen establishing a record setting payroll, surely the Mets will have learned from their embarrassing past and improve on the output and would put a big bat in the lineup, right?

Wrong.

For 2023 the leading recipient of the DH role has again been Daniel Vogelbach.  To his credit he's hit 13 HRs and driven in 45 over a half season's worth of ABs.  That part is good.  The .229 average is not.  He's become deservingly a forgotten man.  

Other major occupants of the DH slot include departed bats Eduardo Escobar, Tommy Pham and Mark Canha. There were again some days off from the field for regular players.  Then came a pretty new candidate playing to establish himself for 2024 -- Mark Vientos.

Step back for a moment and think what makes for a good DH.  Hitting is pretty much at the top of the list.  Except for the days when regulars suited up at DH, that attribute has been missing from the Mets.  Defensively challenged fielders are another group for whom the DH role makes sense.  

Yes, there are folks in the fold who check that box on the sheet of playing characteristics.  Then there is lack of speed.  Since the DH is only there to hit, drawing a lot of walks for a guy who runs like Vogelbach is somewhat counterproductive.  

So that brings us back to Mark Vientos.  It seems that the club is definitely penciling in Ronny Mauricio for an infield position.  Francisco Lindor gets another.  That leaves the other infield slot open to Brett Baty who has yet to establish consistency, Jeff McNeil who these days plays the outfield more than the infield and the slow, lead gloved Vientos.  

There is a difference with Vientos, however.  Since his early benching and inconsistent playing time, when he was given the opportunity to play he started to do so with solid results.  He's batting over .300 over his past month with a great show of exit velocity as well as a collection of fly balls landing in upper decks.  

He's always shown he can hit when given the chance to adjust to the new level of pitching.  Now the fans who were ready to write him off as a AAAA player at best are actually watching when he strides to the plate.

Come 2024, rather than going into the veteran free agent pool to bring in a north of 35 year old hitter on the down side of his career to take over the DH role for the Mets to give them what they've lacked during 2022 and 2023, wouldn't it be a more cost effective and potentially productive option to give Vientos the role and let him see how he does?  

Now it's not an all-or-nothing choice here.  Remember that right fielder who has substituted admirably for Starling Marte, DJ Stewart?  As a left handed hitter he could either complement Vientos or win that role outright as his defensive play is entertaining but not always in a good way.  

In short, the Mets need to be active in free agency.  They need starting pitchers, relievers and outfielders.  It doesn't seem a prudent spending decision to throw a lot of green after players turning gray when there are under-30 solutions in house ready and willing to assume the role.