The Mets are set to recall infield prospect Mark Vientos from Triple-A Syracuse, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). It’ll be Vientos’ first appearance at the MLB level this season, though he did have a brief 16-game call to the Majors late in the 2022 campaign as well.
The 23-year-old Vientos was the Mets’ second-round pick in 2017 and has ranked among the organization’s top prospects regularly since that selection. He’s out to a massive .333/.416/.688 start through 166 Triple-A plate appearances, during which he’s already slugged 13 home runs and tallied 11 doubles. Vientos has drawn a walk in 11.4% of his plate appearances and, after fanning at a 28.6% clip in 101 Triple-A games last season, punched out in just 20.5% of his trips to the plate in 2023.
The Mets have underperformed to begin the season and are currently in the midst of a woeful 6-16 stretch that has seen them plummet to fourth place in the National League East standings. They’re currently six and a half games behind the division-leading Braves and also trail both the Marlins and Phillies by margins of one and one and a half games, respectively.
While starting pitching has been a bigger issue for the Mets, due in no small part to considerable injury troubles, the offense is hardly a juggernaut. The Mets rank 21st in MLB with 179 runs scored, and their collective .240/.322./382 slash line leaves them sitting 19th in batting average, 14th in on-base percentage and 24th in slugging percentage. Veterans Tommy Pham, Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar, in particular, have struggled at the plate.
With fellow prospect Brett Baty hitting decently at third base and Pete Alonso entrenched at first base, Vientos’ two positions are largely spoken for. However, he could still mix in at designated hitter, provide a right-handed complement to the lefty-swinging Baty at the hot corner, and perhaps occasionally spell Alonso at first base. The Mets have taken a short look at Vientos in left field in the past as well, though he has just 109 career innings there and hasn’t played the position since the 2021 season, when he was still in Double-A.
The Mets have received just a .220/.327/.340 slash line out of their DH spot so far in 2023, with a considerable amount of that production coming from Alonso, who’s gone 3-for-10 with a homer and two walks out of the DH slot. Daniel Vogelbach has logged a .247/.370/.364 line out of the designated hitter spot, showing his characteristic keen eye at the plate but hitting for less power than is typical for the slugger. New York has also mixed in Pham, Mark Canha, Brandon Nimmo and Tim Locastro (one plate appearance) for varying levels of action at DH. When facing a left-handed pitcher, Mets designated hitters have combined for a miserable .180/.250/.320 output, so that’s one easy area to view Vientos as an upgrade.
Regardless of where Vientos plays, manager Buck Showalter figures to mix him in with a good bit of regularity, particularly with the Mets struggling as a whole lately. Over the past two weeks, the team carries just a .236/.297/.360 batting line.
As far as service time is concerned, while Vientos picked up 26 days during the 2023 season, that still left him 146 days shy of a full year. At this stage of the season, the most service time he could accrue would be an additional 137 days, meaning he’ll wind up shy of one year even if he’s in the big leagues to stay. Were he to stick on the roster for the rest of the year, he’d be on track to be a slam-dunk Super Two player, making him arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three, beginning in the 2025-26 offseason (barring future optional assignments). The earliest he can become a free agent would be in the 2029-30 offseason.
About time. LGM! (let’s go Mark).
His new nickname from me is Mentos, like the mints
Mark is having a great year so far but not sure it will translate over. Praying it does.
Congratulations to Vientos. He’s more than earned it. Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Tommy Pham, it tolls for thee. -.2Bwar at 6Million per is a pretty easy bar for Vientos to clear. They dfa’d ruf after an eppler terrible move. Now they’ll dfa pham. Maybe the kids can haul this mets mess to the third wildcard spot. Of course, Vientos can’t pitch and if Verlander turns into a pumpkin this team is cooked.
Pham is the 4th outfielder. Not sure who they’d play out there. I prefer McNeil at second.
I think eventually they will DFA Pham and bring up Mauricio. I think they want to give Mauricio more reps at 2B in the minors first (plus his BB and GB rates are a bit off). Then use McNeil as an OF to replace Canha and have Mauricio at 2B.
Pham has to go. And Escobar needs to be on a short leash.
@toofpicky78 DFA Pham,
It was a ridiculous signing in any case: $6m for a mid30s backup corner OFer with below average defense and a 93 OPS+ since the end of 2019? Who thought of this? Sounds like GM Cohen had a hot flash, figuring Pham would bring ‘energy’ to his antiquated team.
Make Nimmo and McNeil the primary OFers (platoon 2B / DH from among Guillorme, Mauricio, and Escobar), and use Marte, Canha, and Vientos in the 3rd-4th-5th OF / DH slot, sharing time in the OF along with Vientos depending on the opposing pitcher’s handedness, and the Mets own pitcher’s K rate and other factors.
Only the Mets could fail to build a platoon LFer / DH out of Baty, Mauricio, and Vientos.
@JackStrawb Baty at 3rd with the rare DH. Vientos gets the RH DH when not covering 3rd for Baty. McNeil can split second with Mauricio, and play the OF. Mauricio LH DH that can hit lefties too when not covering 2nd or SS. Canha 4th OF. Escobar can ride the pine until someone needs rest at 2nd or 3rd. Whomever isn’t starting gets to PH. I prefer McNeil playing second full time but we need the kids. That’s my take anywhos.
Remember how exciting the Mets roster looked after spending all that money. The Mets would dominate in the DL league
Dominican League?
Down Low League?
It actually looks way better now with the kids in it. JS
Pot, meet kettle.
Mets are a day late and a dollar short as usual. They had to be forced into this obvious move which is long overdue. This won’t solve their main issues which are age of the SP who can only toss 4 or 5 IP, and the roster which is cluttered with fringe replacement level players.
Ronny Mauricio needs to be on the same plane with Vientos and two of the deadweight players need to be demoted.
I like Mark Vientos real power plays ok 3B and has some swagger to boot
Finally!!!
Buck’s comments a day or two back that Vientos was getting time at 3B suggests to me that he will play 3B against tough LHP — though Baty will remain in the lineup against other LHP. Vientos also gives the Mets a strong RH PH option off the bench with power. What remains to be seen is how and when he is used against RHP since he is probably not going to play LF in place of Canha.
Escobar has been hitting well in May. I think they keep a platoon with escobar and baty at third and vogelbach and vientos at dh.
He is going to DH vs. LHP and rarely play vs. RHP.
I say give him 2 to 3 starts early against righties and see if he can make Vogelbach superfluous. Vogelbach started out all right, but he hasn’t hit the last two weeks and is suddenly devoid of power.
Thats ridiculous. He’s tearing up both righties and lefties. He better play most of the time.
“He better play most of the time” for a guy that Fangraphs says “defensive ceiling is that of a below-average third baseman”. If he hits in the majors he is a DH. Cohen has a long long way to go to come close to emulating the Dodgers as he says he wants to. Mets minor league system needs a ton more prospects.
Ton more prospects? They have four more elite level prospects that will be in their lineup within a month. Let’s not get carried away with bashing the Mets farm system when it’s clearly producing right now.
Interesting you say that about prospects and the Dodgers…. how are their prospects doing in the bigs? With the exception of Outman, they are non-existent or on other MLB teams.
Vientos has a 1.105 OPS against RHP this year (at AAA and a small sample size, to be sure) so I could see him playing against RHP.
Why wouldn’t he replace Canha? Canha is very replaceable.
@Mets6986? Because he is not an outfielder having played just 13 games in the OF in 6 seasons.
Most players in the Majors have the ability to play left field. It’s not a huge ask.
Who were the last few players that couldnt play much defense and were stuck in left field for the mets. Dom Smith, Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy. Id rather stick a cardboard cut out there with a glove.
You really just didn’t use Daniel Murphy as an example. The year after he left he was second in NL in MVP votes and had an OPS close to 1.000.
Mets6986 states “”Most players in the Majors have the ability to play left field. It’s not a huge ask..””
Roll points out players that were huge craters in left field and couldnt play left field and the mets abysmal luck with putting bad fielders in leftfield. .
Mets6986 brings up hey one of those bad left fielders you mentioned in the bad left fielder conversation almost got the MVP award while playing 2nd base but had an OPS close to 1.000.
Based on this conversation as long as you can have a good OPS you can play left field.
based on Mets6986 thinking:
Wonders why are the Yankees not putting Rizzo out in left field? They definitely need the help out there and is batting with an OPS of 900. So why are they trying to get another OF because most players in the Majors have the ability to play left field. It’s not a huge ask
Better yet, lets help the mets roster crunch and thinks lets move Vogelsong off DH and put him in LF and cut Pham. Im sure he can handle it and he is 3rd in OPS on the team even better than Lindor and McNeil who were all stars because most players in the Majors have the ability to play left field. It’s not a huge ask
That was quite the rant. Murphy played a whole 60 games in his Mets career in left field. Yet people like you and the poster thought the Mets were better off without him. My point was it was very idiotic to include Murphy in that comment and you defended it as if Murphy didn’t lead the Mets to a 2015 World Series and then the Mets let him go because of geniuses like you two. Neither of you have seen Vientos play outfield but both of you act like he can’t catch a fly ball and the Mets would be doomed with him in left. Left field by far is the least defensive position on the field and players are hidden there all the time.
You and i quote again,”MOST PLAYERS IN THE MAJORS HAVE THE ABILITY TO PLAY LEFT FIELD” and i proved you wrong and by your own quote, “Murphy played a whole 60 games in his Mets career in left field.” and why because he couldnt field the position. Then i made your statement look more foolish with two more current examples.
Show me ANYWHERE in any of mine or the other poster in this thread said we didnt want Murphy or Vientos for that matter on the team. I am a huge murphy fan and followed him through all the stops. You can look through any of my posts regarding Murphy and I said it was a huge mistake they didnt sign him especially at the pittance he signed for with the Nats as im sure it would have been even cheaper with the mets with home town discount. Also the fact he waited until the Mets basically told him to take a hike when they acquired walker was like a kick in the head. Same goes for Justin Turner who was a decent fielder and could actually play the outfield yet the mets gave him the short end by cutting him without giving him a regular/real shot. .
Considering the luck of the mets and converting defense questionable players and sticking them in left field He has luck and history against him and getting used to the majors, learn the speed of the game, pitchers, and a new position at the same time could be a huge detriment to his growth that was shown with Smith and Duda
YOU changed the topic when you were proven wrong for your over generalization. Myself and the other poster never said anything about Vientos not being on the team unless thats what you think and want to happen. I hope he gets a shot but at 1st or DH especially with Baty taking over at 3rd for a long time. I hope Pete is also long term as well but he is not under contact past next year. If/When they sign Pete long term rotate pete brett and mark through the dh spot to keep em fresh with the bats still in the lineup.
So genius when you get examples that shoot down your over simplification dont try to change the topic to cover it up. Either provide something to back it up or accept it was way to general/wrong and move along.
What are you even talking about? What did you prove wrong? Murphy was a horrendous example. Just because you write a book doesn’t make you know what you are talking about.
How many more games do they have to lose to call up Mauricio?
Hey MorriesWigs,
Mauricio needs to be on the same plane with Vientos and they both should be playing in the lineup every day not wasting away on the bench. There aren’t any players that should be blocking them now.
Where will they play him?
Option Guillorme. Mauricio can play 2nd and short. Move McNeil to the outfield and let Canha and Subreplacement Marte get it together from the bench.
Plug him in at 2nd, move McNeil to LF. If there’s anyone that shouldn’t be playing everyday, it’s Canha
Vogelbach is the guy to go. He’s a anchor on this team. Can’t run, can’t field, can’t hit for power as a DH on a team that needs more home runs. Pham is much more useful to this team than Vogelbach can ever be.
Bigcat,
While I agree with you that Vogelbach as strictly a platoon DH without power or run producing ability has little use on this roster, Pham is of comparable uselessness.
That is not accurate. Pham has been playing well out in the field. That alone gives him an edge over Vogelbach.
Vogelbach has been bad lately. Over the last 14 days he has a .606ops. Still Pham is hitting worse and has -.2bWar. Pham has got to go.
For the record, I detest both of them and think both must go like a store going out of business clearance sale.
It would be great for the Mets future if they could get rid of both. At least Vogelbach isn’t expensive. Do Guillorme or Vogelbach have options. Mauricio should be up as well.
You’re making a decision on 14 days of data?
I think Vogelbach should stay for his overall body of work. Pham should go, but their playing the option game and sending Guillorme down.
@bigcat20 Rusty Staub could not run nor field well or a HR threat later in his career but was still a valuable asset off the bench as a PH.
Pham is completely useless and Vogelbach has the third best OPS and OPS+ on the team. What are you talking about?
Someone tell me why they signed Pham. I was against it from the start
And they shouldnt have made the Vogelbach trade
Why was Quintana signed and not somebody else?
The bullpen is the worst I’ve seen it an a long, long time. Even the 70s wins teams from 2009 through 2014 didn’t have bullpens this bad
None of these moves are smart
Pham was a stupid signing. There was zero need for him and Vientos wasted away at triple a.
It’s called depth. If you don’t sign Pham and Vientos does not get off to a good start and who steps in behind him on the depth chart and roster. Pham was signed as a legit stop gap.
Well Pham didn’t get off too good start. It was poor talent evaluation and your going with it because they said it was depth.
So within the next month half of the Mets lineup will be rookies. Don’t know why older players like Pham and vogelbach were on the team at all when young talented players were ready to go. Hopefully Buck doesn’t wait weeks to give Vientos at bats because he doesn’t like young players.
Vogelbach is not an older player and he’s playing on a $1.5M option. Pham is superfluous if Vientos is ready to go. I still haven’t heard yet who’s going down or on the IL to clear the space.
and where does Vogelbach play again? That glove must be so amazing they cant afford to have him on the field. if anything Vogel is the superfluous one if Vientos is the DH. I dont know why you would need 2 dh’s that cant play the field. Just shortens your bench more and more. Pham was signed to be the 4th of and short side dh. Vogel is just the DH and when desperate can play 1b. If you have 2DH’s and you have to have 2 Catchers that leaves you with a total of 9 players for the rest of the 7 positions. You better hope you have a supersub and that someone doesnt go day to day in that scenario.
It is enjoyable watching the Rays with their $ 75 MM payroll and brilliant FO match up against the $ 350 MM clueless run Mets. The dichotomy is stark and reveals the correct and incorrect way to operate.
It isn’t money, it’s drafting. The Mets still don’t know how to draft talent
I’d argue that the Mets have drafted well. They have Alonso, McNeil, Baty, and Alvarez as homegrown starters with Vientos and Mauricio in the wings. Pitching is another story, though, with Megill being the only success as of late.
Tampa is lean, mean, decisive and proactive. Mets are bloated and behind the times which trickles down through the entire organization. I knew this Cohen Ownership started off on the wrong track when he reinstated Sandy Alderson as his first move. Horrible
The one and only thing Cohen was supposed to do was replace Tanous as the scouting director
He didn’t clean house in the scouting department
They have to find somebody that knows what talent is
Nobody in the Mets front office even understands what strong talent is
Their first two picks were Kumar Rocker and then Parada and Jett Williams
Those are not good picks
Tanous has been solid for a long time, the Mets have not had a problem drafting and producing MLB players.
Not sure what your issue was about the Rocker pick. There were undisclosed medical issues, they didn’t sign him and basically got a refund of that pick.
Also not sure what your issues are with the Parada and Williams picks. Both were first rounders on everybody’s board and both have been solid in their first forays into pro ball.
Parada has 179 professional PA and has an OPS of .824, Williams 109 PA and is at .763.
They both play in the middle of the diamond, Parada at C and Williams at SS and CF.
Am I missing something? Not sure what you are expecting to see out of two guys that don’t even have 200 PA in the minor leagues.
Hunter must be DFA’D
Nido must be DFA’D once Navarez returns.
Mauricio to 2B
McNeil to LF.
Pham is DFAd
Canha 4th OF.
Vogelsnack heading to DFA soon.
VogelFat*
Pham gets DFA’ed, Vogelbach gets benched and Vientos becomes the DH is my prediction
I don’t see any way Vientos plays 3B. He’s not a major league third baseman
Can this guy pitch?
He can. He can have the 9th in those 10-1 loss games
The Mets should still win the wild card but there’s nothing wrong with using a season to get Alvarez, Baty and the other young players some at bats in the league
They should also give Vasil and Butto regular starts. That sets them up better for next season
An exciting day for a 22-year old rookie, but kind of unfair to rely on a newbie making base salary try to jump start a team with a $347M active payroll.
The Mets are going to make the same mistake with this guy that they made with Dom Smith. Instead of trading him for a player in a need area while his prospect value is high, they are going to hold onto him and try to keep forcing a square peg into a round hole until the luster wears off and he is unceremoniously let go.
Swapping with the Tigers for one of their upper tier pitching prospects would potentially be a win-win trade.
Good idea. Rec’d.
There is a drastic difference in Vientos and Smiths power. They are not comparable. Getting older players at this point is counterproductive for the Mets.
I didn’t say they were the same player. I said the Mets would make the same mistake with both players.
They should trade for JD Davis, he’s hitting well and playing good defense this season.
I agree, Vientos and 5 prospects should get it done.
Don’t ya kinda figure it was the change of venue that prompted his better play? Some guys can’t do it in NY. JD is probably amongst them.
We won’t ever know for sure.
DFA Tommy Pham. Sorry to say, at age 35, the tank is empty. Zero prduction.
Time to get younger and smarter.
Guillorme needs to stay since he is the only capable backup shortstop, although Escobar could play there in a pinch. Pham is the 4th outfielder. Yes, McNeil can play the outfield, but he’s better used at second. Vientos can’t play the outfield or third. My guess is that Vogelbach goes on the IL and they DFA Hunter to open up a spot on the 40 man and call up another pitcher who’s already on the 40 man.