Window opens this weekend for Mets' Mark Vientos
Mark Vientos #27 of the New York Mets connects on his tenth inning RBI single against the Cleveland Guardians at Citi Field on Friday, May 19, 2023 in the Queens borough of New York City. Credit: Jim McIsaac
DENVER — For the first time in several days, Mark Vientos actually was in the Mets’ lineup Saturday night against the Rockies, batting eighth as the designated hitter. Manager Buck Showalter planned for him to be in there Sunday, too, and again Tuesday when the Mets return to New York and open a series against the Phillies.
For Vientos, that is a bona fide treat.
During his major-league cameos late last season and early this season, he has been a part-time player for the first time in his baseball life. He hasn’t started as many as three consecutive games.
In Showalter’s balancing act of underperforming veterans and unproven rookies, Vientos has been stuck waiting for sporadic chances — and not doing particularly well when he gets them, batting .157 with a .294 slugging percentage in 57 plate appearances entering the weekend.
“It’s kind of a juggle. You’re trying to do what’s best for our team and at the same time be fair to everybody,” Showalter said. “If somebody really separates himself, we’d run with it a little bit. But we’re giving everybody an opportunity to get it going.”
The Mets’ handling of Vientos since promoting him from Triple-A Syracuse on May 17 is similar to the initial treatment received by fellow newbies Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty.
Alvarez was the de facto backup catcher behind Tomas Nido for a couple of weeks upon his call-up last month. When the Mets started playing him more, he started playing better, then became the unofficial No. 1 (and arguably the team’s best hitter after Pete Alonso).
Baty got benched against the first bunch of lefthanded starters the Mets faced upon his arrival, but since then has gotten more reps against them.
As general manager Billy Eppler told Newsday before Alvarez started playing more frequently: “Often times you want guys to walk before they run.”
In the case of Vientos, who has a lesser prospect pedigree despite all of his mashing of minor-league pitching, there are other factors.
“A lot of it is projections,” Showalter said recently. “I get a lot of good input, take it all in.”
The Mets’ internal projections, delivered daily by the analytics staff to the manager, show how the hitters are supposed to hit against that game’s starting pitcher. They are based on a complicated mix of variables — including the batter’s bat path, the pitcher’s repertoire and how the hitter performs against those kinds of pitches — and rank all 13 options from most likely to succeed to least.
For several of the Mets’ most recent games, when Vientos wound up on the bench, the projections had him at or near the bottom of the list.
Those rankings aren’t necessarily the deciding factor in Showalter’s lineup-making, but he includes them. He also considers how a hitter historically has fared at that ballpark, as when he inserted Tommy Pham for a rare start against a righty Friday because of his good numbers at Coors Field. Also on the list: how a hitter has done in a small sample against the starting pitcher, who is healthy or needs a rest, how a hitter has performed lately.
Vientos basically is up against Daniel Vogelbach for DH at-bats. The Mets keep waiting for Vogelbach (.680 OPS) to return to his career norm of hitting well against righthanders, but it hasn’t happened yet.
“I’ve been here for a week and a half, just asking the guys questions and stuff and just watching the game, learning. That’s pretty much it,” Vientos said. “Unfortunately, not playing, but still gotta get better in some way and be ready. Because when the opportunity comes, I gotta be ready for it.”
Hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said: “He’s been a pro about it so far. Just gotta keep working . . . and when his name is called, get out there and get a good pitch and let it fly.”
Vientos homered in his season debut, then started three of the next eight games.
“If you look at the track record and you look at a lot of different things, you can make a case for everybody,” Showalter said. “But only nine guys can play. If I walk you through that procedure and the input we get from a lot of different things, it’s good. It’s a good process.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
