Have you ever been top of your class and been ignored for your achievement? Have you ever recorded the best performance metrics at your job only to watch someone less capable getting promoted over you? Did you ever think you were ready for the permanent migration to the best of the best only to have your employer at the 11th hour hire a six time All Star?
Well, these types of reactions are what Mark Vientos likely had running through his head during this 2024 season. Who led the team in Spring Training HRs? Mark Vientos. Who led in RBIs? Also Mark Vientos. Who got a one-way ticket to Syracuse? If you said ¨Mark Vientos” then you are catching on here.
No one is expecting a hot three days will have him switching places permanently with Brett Baty. As quickly as he arrived he is just as likely ticketed back to AAA regardless of what he does on the field. It will be interesting to see if the Mets actually give him a significant number of innings, but it would seem that with Pete Alonso at 1st base and J.D. Martinez at DH the only opportunity for Vientos is at the hot corner. If several weeks of hot hitting didn´t warrant Vientos coming north with the team, a trio of days now isn´t likely to do the trick either.
Of course, if Billy Eppler was still here and Vientos was stinging the ball then it is possible that Baty would manifest some kind of injury which would enable the Mets to send him to the IL in order for the Mets to get a 10-day longer look at how often he strikes out and how challenged he is trying to man the third base position.
For now, it is a good to see what Vientos can do based upon his ongoing hot hitting in Syracuse. It will be almost more impressive to see him hit line drives rather than gearing up to hit the long ball in each at bat. That approach might inevitably make him a more valuable major leaguer as a 20+ home run hitter who threatens to fan 180 times is not nearly as valuable as a .280 hitter who can increase his contact rate and cut that number by 20% or more.
He is still young and it is possible that his skills can be enhanced with the top hitting instructors in the organization, but you have to be playing in order to see if what is talk can be implemented. Of course, asking a player to try a new strategy might set him back temporarily in his output which will accelerate the tens of thousands of boo birds squawking for his demotion.
10 comments:
We already have Jeff McNeil, who has turned into a low impact hitter. Baty has 3 extra base hits in over 90 plate appearances. Baty's last 15 games, just .196, with 4 RBIs in 50 plate appearances. A carbon copy of last year's April. His 3 XBH in 90 PAs is a Bud Harrelson pace at a power position. In fact, after April last year, in 405 at bats, he has hit .212 with just 13 doubles and 10 HRs, horrible for a MLB power position.
He has earned nothing.
Mark is .750/.750/1.500 in his 4 at bats. Yep, just 4 ABs, but it says something. Mark was playing in a lot of frigid AAA temperatures and did well there. I go with the slugger.
Mark, at the risk of being redundant, has 17 HRs since Sept 1 in 230 at bats in the majors, spring ball, and AAA. Me? My vote for playing time foes to THE SLUGGER, MARK VIENTOS. Not the Sluggard at a power position, Brett Baty.
Yeah, but the fielding? In frigid Syracuse, Vientos had 2 errors in 18 games. Just 2.
My vote? Vientos.
Tom,
Mark has earned the chance to show us what he can do with a starting position.
If you have Vientos and Martinez in the lineup every day then the chances of offensive impotence is almost eliminated.
I took, want Vientos to stay and get the shot he deserved last year. These things have a way of sorting themselves out. I can easily see MArtinez going down with back pain sometime in the near future; they already tested him for one game this past weekend, if I remember correctly. If Martinez goes down for any length of time, Vientos needs to get all of his at bats.
rested
Jon G, Reese, and D J, I agree. Martinez will absolutely not start more than 5 days a week for a good while, at the risk of re-injury. He can pinch hit on off days.
The Mets won 12 of 15, then lost 5 of 6, during which Baty went bat-silent. We simply need a dangerous offense. He has 3 extra base hits in 90 PAs for a third baseman is abysmal - that is a power position. And to be under .200 the last 15 days may simply be telling us Baty is just not that good. When Manny Machado was Baty's age of 24, he had 40 doubles, 37 HRs, 96 RBIs, and 105 runs scored. Not 2 extra base hits in 90 PAs.
If you want to flounder, play Baty every day.
I like that Baty has shown improvement in the field, but his hitting is abysmal. Even his double yesterday was not hit hard.
The big question IMO goes beyond what Mark can do and his earning a spot. It is where that spot is, and who he replaces. Does he platoon with Baty, essentially playing only vs LHPs? Does he sit on the bench until someone has a day off? Does he replace the LH power bat of Stewart?
Someone has to leave the team in 24-48 hours
Who should it be?
Bill, it’s got to be a Short answer to your question.
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