Vientos could open the season on the 26-man roster if Darin Ruf gets placed on the injured list due to his sore wrist, Tim Britton of The Athletic reports.
Ruf has done little in a Mets uniform since being picked up from the Giants last season, and his sore wrist has limited him to only 13 plate appearances so far this spring, in which he's managed two hits and struck out five times. Vientos, meanwhile, has gone 11-for-36 (.308) with three doubles and two homers, although his 1:14 BB:K is a giant red flag that he isn't going to maintain that kind of batting average for very long. The 23-year-old would also offer more defensive versatility in a bench role than Ruf. The veteran slugger still has some time left this spring to prove his wrist is 100 percent and re-establish himself as a right-handed platoon option, but if the Mets decide to shut him down, Vientos appears to be the most likely candidate to benefit.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Clubs two homers Saturday
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Vientos went 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Marlins.
Getting the start at third base and hitting second in the order, Vientos launched a two-run shot off minor-league reliever Justin Evans in the fourth inning before taking potential Miami closer Dylan Floro deep in the fifth for a three-run blast, with both homers being no-doubters to straightaway center field. Vientos doesn't appear to have much of a chance at winning the starting job at the hot corner for Opening Day with both Eduardo Escobar and Brett Baty ahead of him in the pecking order, but he's doing what he can to win a spot on the big-league bench. The 23-year-old prospect has gone 7-for-21 to begin his spring, with four of the hits (two doubles plus Saturday's home runs) going for extra bases.
Vientos is absent from the Mets' roster for the NL Wild Card Series against the Padres on Friday, Deesha Thosar of Fox Sports reports.
Vientos made his big-league debut Sept. 11 and won't be included on New York's roster to open the playoffs. He played in 16 games down the stretch and had a .167/.268/.278 slash line with one home run and three RBI.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Hits first career homer
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Vientos went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in a 10-4 loss to the Athletics on Saturday.
Vientos hit his first major-league home run on a 3-1 offering from Ken Waldichuk to tie the game. The 22-year-old rookie third baseman is slashing .167/.286/.333 in 24 big league at-bats.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Hitting eighth in debut
Rotowire
Vientos will serve as the designated hitter and hit eighth Sunday in his big-league debut.
Vientos did not see action Saturday after being called up for the first time, but he will make his first start as a major leaguer in the final game of the Mets' series against the Marlins.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Earns first career call-up
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The Mets will call up Vientos from Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
Contact concerns may ultimately prevent Vientos from making the most of his considerable power, but he hits the ball hard enough that he may be able to find success despite the whiffs. That's been the case for him in 101 games for Triple-A Syracuse this year, as he's struck out 28.6 percent of the time but still managed to hit .283/.361/.524 with 24 home runs. He isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Marlins but could earn at-bats at third base or designated hitter down the stretch, especially against lefties.
Vientos was scratched from Triple-A Syracuse's lineup Tuesday due to a headache, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.
Rumors of a call-up began to surface after Vientos was scratched from Tuesday's lineup, but he just experienced a headache during batting practice. The 21-year-old is one of New York's top prospects and has a .282/.359/.523 slash line with 23 home runs and 73 RBI at Triple-A this year, but the organization has yet to promote him for his first taste of the big leagues.
Vientos (knee) returned from Triple-A Syracuse's 7-day injured list Sunday and went 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in the club's 10-1 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Vientos is back in action after missing a week and a half due to knee discomfort. The 2017 second-round pick is slashing .248/.331/.482 with eight home runs through his 160 plate appearances with Syracuse this season.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Managing knee discomfort
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Vientos was scratched from Friday's lineup at Triple-A Syracuse due to knee discomfort, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.
Vientos has been productive in Syracuse since the start of May, slashing .320/.400/.600 with six home runs, three doubles, 14 runs and 14 RBI over 20 games during that time. The team doesn't sound too concerned about the 22-year-old's knee issue, so he should tentatively be considered day-to-day.
Vientos has gone 8-for-22 (.364) over his last six games for Triple-A Syracuse with four home runs and seven RBI.
Considered one of the organization's top prospects, Vientos has had a brutal start to the season at Syracuse, but he seems to be finding his groove. Strikeouts remain an issue for Vientos -- he's fanned seven times in his last six games, and has a 30.0 percent strikeout rate through 100 plate appearances on the year -- but his .212/.320/.459 slash line will rise quickly with an extended hot streak. He posted a .282/.354/.584 line between Syracuse and Double-A Binghamton over 83 games in 2021 with 25 homers.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Struggling in Triple-A
Rotowire
Vientos is hitting just .167/.282/.303 with one homer across 21 games so far this season for Triple-A Syracuse.
After he hit 25 homers in just 83 games across Double-A and Triple-A last year, expectations were high for Vientos entering this season, but he simply hasn't delivered so far. If there's a bright side to be scraped from his stats, it's that he's drawn six walks in his last six games -- a big improvement from the four he managed in the first 15 -- but the 22-year-old's prospect luster has always stemmed from his massive raw power, and that's simply been missing in action. He's striking out at a career-high clip (32.1 percent), and his 66.7 percent groundball rate as well as his 23.1 percent flyball rate are well out of line with his career norms. It sure is hard to hit the ball over the fence often when you're hitting it on the ground two-thirds of the time. The good news is that Vientos has a lengthy minor-league track record of elevating the ball, so look for him to tweak his swing and get back to what he does best.
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Mets' Mark Vientos: Moves to minor-league camp
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Vientos was optioned to minor-league camp Monday, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.
Vientos got to spend some time in big-league camp as a member of the 40-man roster, but he's not quite ready to push for an active roster spot. He's only played 11 Triple-A games, but he could make his case for a promotion with a strong start at that level this season.
