With Pete Alonso missing time, Mets need to give Mark Vientos an opportunity
A humble suggestion for the Mets: For the time Pete Alonso misses after getting hit by a 97 mile-per-hour fastball on the left wrist Wednesday night, start Mark Vientos at first base.
Initial X-rays on Alonso’s wrist were negative, but after the slugger was sent back to New York for additional testing, the Mets placed him on the 10-day IL with a bone bruise and a sprained left wrist. The team said the typical return to play is three to four weeks.
The Mets should use this moment to gather intel on one of their own. Maybe Vientos can impact the team as something more than a miscast bench/platoon piece, which is seemingly what he is now.
You want to call this idea “fan service,” a nod to the prospect nerds who just want to see all the kids play? Go ahead, but we are talking about a 30-33 team that has put out a mediocre body of work so far this season, especially considering its cost, talented roster and expectations.
The Mets could use a jolt. Maybe Vientos hits five homers in a week and takes the blown leads to the Braves and myriad other 2023 disappointments off the Mets' collective shoulders for a while.
This is not intended as a cure-all for the Mets. Couldn’t be. They need their rotation to take off and their stars to hit more than they have. They need to add to the bullpen, too. In the meantime, maybe they can really see what Vientos could be, if anything.
Vientos, a 23-year-old slugging prospect who pushed his way to the big leagues with a huge power start in Triple-A, hasn’t exactly gotten a chance to prove he belongs here, at least so far. Maybe he’ll never show he deserves a roster spot, but we’ll never know unless he gets a significant opportunity.
He came up on May 17 after bashing 13 homers and notching a 1.104 OPS in 141 at-bats with Syracuse. You might remember he homered in his first game, a tying two-run shot that helped the Mets to a dramatic 8-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, the best team in baseball.
But Vientos has only played in 13 of the Mets’ 20 games since his call-up. Only 10 of those have been starts, as the club mostly has followed its platoon plan at designated hitter. Has he seized his limited chances?
Nope – Vientos has a slash line of .162/.179/.243 and a .422 OPS with one homer and four RBI, while striking out 12 times in 37 at-bats, including an 0-for-5 night with three punchouts on Thursday.
It can be difficult for a young player used to playing every day to thrive in a part-time role. Alonso has first base locked down and one of the Mets’ other top prospects, Brett Baty, is at third, which is where Vientos has gotten most of his defensive reps in his career. Vientos might not have a great deal of positional versatility, but he’s slugged in the minors.
Even with poor results in the majors, he’s been hitting the ball hard, which suggests the potential for good things. According to MLB’s Statcast, his average exit velocity is 95.7 mph and his hard-hit percentage is 65.4 percent. Small sample size disclaimers apply, of course.
Just to give you an idea of what kind of neighborhood Vientos is in, here are Aaron Judge’s numbers, even if this is not an apples-to-apples comparison.
Judge, who leads all qualified MLB hitters in both categories, is at 97.2 mph and 62.6 percent. No one is saying that Vientos equals or approximates Judge – please let that part sink in – just making the point that Vientos has hit the ball hard in the chances he’s gotten, even if his stats are ugly.
As the saying goes, prospects are suspects until proven otherwise.
If the Mets don’t think Vientos has any potential, they should send him down and let other teams' scouts crush on him as he tees-off on Triple-A pitching some more, then trade him before the deadline for the reliever they clearly need.
But perhaps some consistent playing time would help Vientos unlock bigger numbers. There’s been a narrative about him that he should be a platoon player, but the righty swinger raked against right-handed pitchers in the minors (1.105 OPS) this year.
Will he evoke defensive comparisons to Keith Hernandez at first base? Hardly. Vientos has exactly two career appearance at first base in the big leagues and he’s played 55 games there in the minors.
Other options at first appear to be Mark Canha, who entered when Alonso was removed Wednesday, or perhaps Daniel Vogelbach, who has played 154 games at first in his career.
It’s worth a short-term defensive risk, though.
Whenever Alonso does reurn, the Mets should book-end whatever appearances Vientos gets at first base with some steady work at designated hitter, regardless of pitcher-handedness. Vogelbach is not producing much as the lefty half of a DH platoon (.639 OPS) and the Mets overall are 25th in MLB in OPS (.635) from the DH position.
A hot Vientos could tilt those numbers and help the Mets, who increasingly seem in need of it. But he’s got to play to do it, and maybe this should be his chance.
