Mark Vientos
When David Stearns had his press conference at the end of the season and conducted his public post mortem of the 2025 season, he indicated the New York Mets biggest issue was run prevention. Assuming he is correct, and he probably is, the question is how to improve the Mets run prevention.
We can and should talk about what players the Mets should acquire or better utilize. However, that is only part of the equation. A part of that is coaching.
After the 2025 season, the Los Angeles Angels announced they were parting ways with manager Ron Washington. If the Mets true goal is run prevention, they need to act quickly to hire him.
Washington is famous throughout baseball for how he improves players infield defense. As highlighted by Sam Blum of The Athletic, he runs his infielders through his Washington drills:
That is, in essence, the entire purpose of the drill. To work on mechanics for backhands, glove hands and up the middle. The drill forces you to take the most direct route to the ball, field it in the center of your glove and follow through properly to finish the play. Eventually the drill transitions to fungos, where footwork becomes paramount.
The famous story with Washington is his work with Scott Hatteberg. He took a catcher who could not longer throw, and he helped him become a capable defender at first base. This is no small feat.
The Mets need more help with their infield defense than most people realize.
Francisco Lindor had a drop-off defensively. He went from a 14 to a 3 OAA. We all saw he had a down year defensively, and the toe may have been a large part of it. IF the Mets want to get to the World Series in 2026, they will need Lindor playing at a Gold Glove level again.
For all the talk about Brett Baty’s defense at third, his OAA fluctuated through the year. His 2 OAA was positive, but he needs to develop more consistency and get to another level if he is going to be an everyday player.
There’s also the matter of Mark Vientos. Vientos, never an elite defender, went from a -6 OAA to a -7 in 324.1 fewer innings. Vientos was much worse than he had been in 2024.
Vientos is the interesting focal point. He is akin to Austin Riley, who was also known as a bat first third baseman likely destined to first base or DH. Working with Washington, Riley would be a Gold Glove finalist.
The Mets don’t quite know how they’re aligning their infield. We could see Vientos in the mix at first or third. Baty could be in the mix at second or third. Wherever either are, they will need Lindor to be at their best.
Possibly, there were will another first baseman or second baseman in the mix. At the moment, we don’t know how it will shake out. What we do know is player acquisition is only part of the equation.
The Mets need to get the best out of everyone on the roster. From a defensive standpoint, the Mets need to bring on Ron Washington. He is a perfect fit to accomplish their run prevention goals of 2026.
Go back to the 2024 season. We will forever tell tales of Francisco Lindor’s heroics, and the pitching feats of Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and David Peterson. We will talk about the shrewd bullpen moves of Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton.
There was Grimace, and of course, Jose Iglesias and OMG.
All that is true, but we also need to discuss how the Mets allowed young players have an opportunity to prove themselves leading to the run the Mets had.
Mark Vientos became a slugging third baseman. The missing piece of the lineup. The Mets gave Jose Butto and Dedniel Nunez prove themselves, and they did. As much as anything, it was the youth that helped the Mets on their 2024 run.
Arguably, it was abandoning the youth that harmed the 2025 Mets chances.
Luisangel Acuna was the second baseman on Opening Day because Jeff McNeil was injured. Acuna was the National League Rookie of the Month for the first month of the season.
When he struggled, Acuna was put on the bench in favor of McNeil. Even if he struggled down the stretch, McNeil was good this year with a 2 OAA and 111 wRC+. He was a very good player, but that did not mean Acuna needed to be relegated to just a pinch runner and defensive replacement.
That is why players like Travis Jankowski, who had a brief stint with the Mets, exist. Acuna needed more playing time.
There was also the matter of Vientos. Vientos helped to save the 2024 Mets, and they nearly forgot all that he did for them. Yes, he struggled out of the gate (he’s always been a slow starter), and he had injuries which exacerbated his struggles.
That said, we know what he was capable of doing. This was the Mets best hitter in the postseason. When the DH spot opened up, he went on an absolute tear until they again decided to give him intermittent playing time.
Butto struggled part of this year, and he was shipped off as part of an overpay for Tyler Rogers. The Mets called up Dom Hamel multiple times and only used him once, and instead opted to continued burning out their bullpen when he could’ve eaten innings.
Ronny Mauricio was called up after a rash of injuries. Mauricio surprised by playing an excellent third base, which metrics best on the team. However, he struggled offensively with a 29.3 K% and 88 wRC+. Because of these struggles, he was placed on the bench, unused for much of the season instead of sending him back to Syracuse to develop.
Then, there’s the Mets waiting as long as they did to call-up Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat. McLean was an ace as soon as he was called up, and Sproat showed real flashes.
Sure, you could justify waiting on them because you never know when a pitcher is truly ready. Jonah Tong’s struggles are evidence of that. Still, when the Mets needed a starter, they waited forever before calling up a trio of pitchers that earned the opportunity.
To sum up, the Mets sidelined a promising young second baseman and a third baseman that helped lead them to the NLCS. They took a talented third baseman and gave him no playing time. They didn’t use their young pitching as the also-rans faltered.
The Mets made a lot of mistakes in 2025. The biggest of them all was abandoning their young players and not allowing them to be a driving force like they were in 2024. That’s partially why they are home in 2025 while they made a run to the NLCS in 2024.
Being a New York Mets fan isn’t what it always was. The 1969 and 1986 Mets defined the organization as a team of what can be. Even the disappointments like 1973 and 1999 showed us that even in losses, the Mets organization is known for the potential miracles that can occur.
Maybe it started with Dwight Gooden missing the championship parade while sitting in a crack house. Maybe it was Kenny Rogers walking Andruw Jones with the bases loaded, or it could have been Todd Zeile’s ball getting stuck on the wall.
Frankly, it was probably the Wilpons getting sole ownership of the Mets organization. At some point, this Mets team went from miracles to Carlos Beltran striking out looking, the two collapses to close out Shea Stadium, and sadly, so much more.
In that vein, let’s try to rank out the Mets collapses. Just a fun little exercise for us Mets fans.
5. 2025 Collapse
This is the freshest, and it probably seems worse that it was. Actually, it is worse than it was, but this is being viewed through the prism of Mets history,
Unlike some of the other collapses, this was a a slow moving train. We all watched on with horror for months as this happened. This was the man getting run over by the roller in Austin Powers.
This collapse started in June with Griffin Canning went down. For months, this team was David Peterson and just four other guys in the rotation, and then Peterson lost it.
Yes, there was so much enthusiasm entering the season with the 2024 shocking run to the NLCS, and the Juan Soto signing. That all said this team was just snakebitten.
This team lost AJ Minter and Jesse Winker for the season. Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga were trying to pitch through injuries. The additions at this year’s trade deadline didn’t have the magic touch. Ultimately, that was it – the magic was gone.
Still on the last day of the season, they had a chance, and they again blew it. This was as bad as it gets, but not the worst it gets for the Mets.
4. 2007 Mets
Unlike most Mets collapses, the 2007 Mets were a case of the Philadelphia Phillies just took it from them. No doubt the Mets fell apart, but the Phillies played baseball at an insane clip instead of the Reds 14-11 September.
The issue with the 2007 is they just ran out of starting pitching. That final week of the season was David Williams and Phillip Humber start games. Billy Wagner was hurt, and Aaron Hellman was on whatever comes after fumes.
We didn’t realize it at the time, but Tom Glavine was pitching with a fork in his back. He was just done, and we saw the Miami Marlins take full advantage.
In reality, this collapse was sown in 2005 with Jeff Wilpon forcing Pedro Martinez to pitch. Also, like we saw with the 2025 Mets, this was a slow moving train as well.
The 2007 Mets slide began in June. From June 1 to the end of the season, they were 54-56. They were just an average team. It was just hard to see at the time, but we know it now. And, we knew it from what we would see the next season.
3. 1998 Mets
The 1997 Mets shocked baseball by somehow finishing with an 88-74 record. They attacked the offseason adding Al Leiter and Dennis Cook in addition to re-signing John Olerud.
They then made the big move by trading for Mike Piazza after Todd Hundley suffered an elbow injury. After some early issues with Piazza adjusting to New York and the booing, the Mets vaulted to postseason contention.
On September 16, they had a big win against the Houston Astros and found themselves a half-game up in the Wild Card standings. From there, they would finish the season going 2-6, losing their last five games.
Making it all the worse is they just needed to win one more game over that stretch. of course, the Mets would completely blow two games over that stretch.
Keep in mind, the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs would play in a winner-take-all Wild Card play-in game. The Cubs finished the season on a 4-6 stretch, and the Giants finished the season losing their last two games.
The play-in game was Steve Trachsel against Mark Gardner. The Mets couldn’t even win to enter this fray. If they won two, they advance to the postseason. It was all for naught as they choked it all away.
2. 2022 Mets
As written about here, the 2022 collapse was worse than the 2007 collapse.
The Mets had Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Chris Bassitt lined up in a series where the Mets had to win one game to win the division. Instead, they were swept. At the time, their 10.5 game blown lead was the third largest division lead blown in Major League history. It’s now fourth thanks to the 2025 Detroit Tigers.
Because of the collapse, instead of having a first round bye giving Scherzer, deGrom, and Bassitt much needed rest, they hosted the Wild Card Series, again with their pitching lined up perfectly.
Keep in mind the hubris of Mets fans. At the time, they were actively debating lining up deGrom for Game 3 so he could start the NLDS after the Mets swept the Padres. This Mets team was that good.
Instead, Scherzer pulled a Glavine in Game 1. After deGrom won Game 2, Bassitt was not good in Game 3 with the Mets managing just one hit against Joe Musgrove and his glistening ears.
In many ways, this team unnecessarily panicked. They forced Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez into a pennant race after purposefully not giving them cups of coffee earlier in the year. To add insult to injury, Buck Showalter was named Manager of the Year for his guiding the Mets from an easy division title to a team who completely fell apart.
1. 2008 Mets
This is not a popular choice, but it is assuredly the worst of all the collapses. Everything from that season was disturbing.
Rumors still circle about Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes purposefully quitting on Willie Randolph. Jerry Manuel worked behind the scenes with Jeff Wilpon to force Randolph’s firing. To make it all worse, the Mets did it to Randolph after the first game of a west coast trip began.
Oh, by the way, Randolph was the rare manager fired after a win. Instead, we got Manuel and his clown show. He was at least aided by a rejuvenated Delgado.
On August 27, the Mets led the NL East. Ironically, they opened September by sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers. After that sweep, they were ahead of the Phillies by 3.0 games, and they were ahead of the Brewers by two games in the loss column.
From there, the Mets would go 10-12.
On September 19, they led the NL East by a half-game. Over the final nine games of the season, that became a three game deficit. No, it wasn’t seven in 17, but it was inexplicable.
This team lost six of their final nine games. They were tied for the Wild Card entering the final week of the season with the Marlins (again). They would lose two out of three.
Unlike the prior year where it was Glavine who just didn’t have it, Beltran had a big homer to tie the game against the Marlins. Just when you thought he was changing the narrative from 2006, Manuel decides to go with Scott Schoeneweis, a reliever with a 7.00 September ERA that month.
It was classic Manuel. He was a bad manager making indefensible decisions.
Oh, and keep in mind, the Mets went out and got Johan Santana in the offseason. He was the ace missing in 2006, and he was the starter who could’ve prevented 2007 from happening. Apparently, nothing could stop Manuel, Jeff, and company.
Even if you want to believe 2007 was worse, consider this was the second year in a row only exacerbating everything. To make it even worse, this is the way they closed out Shea Stadium, the same place that saw the 1969 Mets, the ball go through Bill Buckner’s legs, Robin Ventura’s Grand Slam Single, and Mike Piazza’s homer after 9/11.
This loss was the cumulation of everything that happened after Beltran’s strikeout. After this, we had an awkward ceremony, and the team falling apart with the Wilpons getting caught up with the Madoff scandal.
The 2008 collapse was as bad as it gets. Sadly, being Mets fans, we have plenty of years from which to debate.
Weird things happen in the MLB postseason. Since the expanded postseason format, things rarely, if ever, goes as planned.
The first expansion was in 1969. The New York Mets shocked the world that year. Even though the Mets had won 100 games, they beat the favored Atlanta Braves in the first ever NLCS.
The Mets went on to shock the world by beating the 109 win Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.
Four years later, behind the Tug McGraw mantra of “Ya Gotta Believe!” the 1973 Mets won the NL East with only 82 wins. That team beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games (back when the NLCS was five games) to advance to the World Series.
To hear Howie Rose tell it, if Yogi Berra pitched George Stone in Game 6 instead of Tom Seaver, that team likely wins the World Series. Still, an 82 team in the World Series highlights how crazy things can happen.
In 2015, aided by a Washington Nationals choke job (insert Jonathan Papelbon–Bryce Harper joke), the 2015 Mets won the division. Daniel Murphy became Babe Ruth, and the Mets trio of Jacob deGrom–Matt Harvey–Noah Syndergaard led the Mets to the pennant.
If not for Terry Collins, the Mets win the 2015 World Series. He was as bad as you can be, and the Mets largely didn’t win because of him.
It’s also worked against the Mets.
The Mets dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 season. However, Orel Hershiser would come up huge, and he’d help the Dodgers with a huge upset. Fueled by Kirk Gibson’s shocking homer in Game 1, the Dodgers beat what could’ve been seen as an all-time great Oakland Athletics team.
In 2000, the Mets had some luck with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Atlanta Braves. That cleared the way for the Mets to beat the Cardinals and win the pennant.
In the World Series, they faced off against an 87 win New York Yankees team, who ended that season on the verge of an epic collapse to miss the postseason. If Todd Zeile’s ball bounces over the wall, or Armando Benitez throws a strike who knows?
The less said about that World Series, the better.
In 2006, the Mets were the best team in baseball and seemed destined to win the World Series. El Duque got hurt warming up the NLDS, Billy Wagner faltered in the postseason like he always does, and Carlos Beltran struck out looking.
Meanwhile, we watched on with horror as the 83 win Cardinals beat an imploding Detroit Tigers team to win the World Series.
No matter the win total, if the Mets make the postseason, they will be sputtering in. Who cares?
This is still a team who can win a World Series. Everything they need is here.
Nolan McLean is a real ace, and Edwin Díaz is the best closer in baseball. As we saw with the Dodgers last year, you can win getting 2-3 innings from everyone.
We’ve already seen that Clay Holmes–Sean Manaea piggyback work well. It can certainly work with the rest of the staff.
Pete Alonso and Juan Soto had series winning homers last postseason. Francisco Lindor led the way like he’s doing during the current stretch run. Mark Vientos shook off late season struggles to be the Mets best player last postseason.
This Mets team can win the World Series. They have what it takes. They just need to get there. Even if you’re still skeptical, just look at past postseasons to look at how crazy things get.
When you look at the New York Mets offense, it seems everyone is worse than they were last year. The fans are starting to point fingers at Eric Chavez again. As is usual with hitting coaches, they shoulder the blame . . . fair or not.
Chavez or not, two players make you question how good Chavez has been – Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez.
Vientos came up from Triple-A Syracuse and raked. He had a 133 wRC+. Among Major League third basemen, only Jose Ramirez was better offensively. That success carried into the postseason where Vientos was great.
That success hasn’t carried forward into this year. There’s a number of reasons including inconsistent playing time and injuries. All told, he’s at an 81 wRC+.
There’s enough there, including a sophomore slump, where you don’t have to even consider Chavez. That brings us to Alvarez.
Like Vientos, Álvarez struggled out of the gate. There were also reasons like a new swing and being injured entering the season. Being a first time father also shouldn’t be discounted.
Since Álvarez has options remaining (Vientos didn’t), he was sent down to Syracuse to work with hitting coach Rick Guarno to get his swing right. He was also there to get his defense back on track.
Álvarez fixed his swing and defense in Syracuse. Since being recalled, he’s hitting .278/.395/.500 with three doubles, a triple, homer, and four RBI.
It’s telling that Álvarez couldn’t get the help he needed at the Major League level. That’s not unusual for young players. That said, looking at him and Vientos, it should make you at least question what they’re doing right in Syracuse that’s not translating in Queens.
Again, it may not be Chavez’s fault. Different messaging helps. On that front, it’s notable Pete Alonso is having his best year since 2022.
The 2022 season was Chavez’s first as the Mets hitting coach. In the subsequent two years Alonso had a significant drop-off. He’s now back at his 2022 level of production. Part of the reason is his agent Scott Boras:
For the first time in his seven-year career, Alonso is using external help to assist him with research, digest data and create personal plans against pitchers. The information comes from people affiliated with his agent, Scott Boras, and from people at his Tampa, Fla.-based workout group, Diesel Optimization, among others. He explained it as something like a front office just for him.
The Athletic, Will Sammon
It’s telling Alonso went outside the organization to get the assistance he felt he needed to get back to his level of production. It’s more telling that it worked.
Seeing how the outside help brought Alonso back to his best, we should at least look at some of the Mets other hitters.
Juan Soto had a 181 wRC+ with the New York Yankees. He’s now at a 143. That 143 would be his worst season mark since his first full professional season.
Soto is still awesome. He’s just a little less awesome than he’s been over the past four years.
Brandon Nimmo was an elite leadoff hitter with a great walk rate. In 2022, he had a 132 wRC+ (down from the previous two years) and a 10.5 BB%. He’s now down to a 117 wRC+ and 8.0 BB%.
Francisco Lindor finished second in MVP voting in 2024. He had a career best 137 wRC+. Being fair here, Lindor has been his best at the plate with Chavez as hitting coach.
Yes, Lindor is having a down year at the plate, but we all saw a drop off after the broken toe. You can’t pinpoint that on anyone.
Looking at the Mets top players, it appears only Lindor has been at his best with Chavez at the helm. Young players like Alvarez and Vientos were better working with the Triple-A hitting coaches.
Moreover, we’re not seeing Brett Baty or Ronny Mauricio develop into the hitters they were promised to be. Coupled with Álvarez and Vientos, something is just off here.
That’s not to say Chavez is at fault. It’s possible what he’s conveying is helping, but it’s also clear there’s a gap where players aren’t getting what they need to produce at the levels we’ve seen them produce.
At some point, Chavez is going to have to be addressed and scrutinized. The Mets offense is too talented for these results. The best hitters have seen a drop off in production working with Chavez.
Something is very wrong here. If it’s not Chavez, it’s something. It’s well past time the Mets figure it out.
At the trade deadline, the New York Mets acquired Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles. While widely praised, it was a move that did not really improve the Mets.
The Cedric Mullins of 2021-2022 was a star who left an impression. Truth is, he was only at that level for two years. The subsequent two years he went to serviceable to a bench level player this year.
The player the Mets acquired has a 0.1 WAR, 101 wRC+, and a 2 OAA. This is the player the Mets acquired due to the season ending injury to Jose Siri and the struggles of Tyrone Taylor.
With respect to Taylor, he has a 0.6 WAR, 55 wRC+, and a 4 OAA. As we saw, it was diminishing returns at the plate for Taylor. He is much better suited as a defensive replacement and platoon bat against left-handed pitchers.
Seeing that, the Mets moved Jeff McNeil to CF. The results have been quite positive. In limited duty in center, he has a 0 OAA. He’s already made some highlight plays.
Offensively, he has a 123 wRC+. He gives the most value at the plate for a Mets offense that seemingly can’t get out of their own way.
McNeil was holding his own in center and improving. That said, he was obviously better defensively at second where he has a 3 OAA. He’s excellent there, and moving him off the position creates a problem.
The Mets solution was Brett Baty. Baty has a -1 OAA at second, and he has a 96 wRC+. This right here is the problem.
With Taylor’s struggles, the Mets have overplayed Baty. With consistent playing time, Baty has shown himself to be a below average bat and below average defender at second base.
The bigger issue with Baty is he’s slipping defensively as evidenced by his 10th inning costly error against the Cleveland Guardians. He was once at a 4 OAA, and he’s slipped to a 2 OAA.
Like Taylor, the Mets needed to find a way to get Baty out of the everyday lineup. The answer could have been Ronny Mauricio, but the Mets didn’t fully go that route.
Mauricio has been superior to Baty with a 104 wRC+ and a 6 OAA at third. With his slow foot speed, he’s actually worse at second than Baty.
Mark Vientos has started hitting again, and he is one of the few bats in this lineup that can carry the offense. He’s been hitting well since July 10, and he’s had a number of clutch hits.
Given his defensive limitations, he should be the primary DH with occasional spells at third. That should leave third for Mauricio.
That is what the Mullins trade afforded the Mets. They can put their best team on the field. It’s now up to David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza to do it.
McNeil is the everyday second baseman. That improves the lineup and defense. With Mauricio at third and Mullins in center, Baty moves to the bench.
That defense with Vientos at DH is the Mets optimal lineup. Against left-handed pitchers, they can pivot by getting Taylor into the lineup, and even with Mauricio being a switch hitter, they can play Vientos at third with Starling Marte as the DH.
But make no mistake, the Mets are a better team with Baty as a quality bench player. He can provide late inning defense or a pinch hitting opportunity when needed. That’s when he is at his best.
This is what the Mullins trade afforded the Mets. They can now optimally use their roster. It’s now just time the Mets started doing that.
Through the proverbial first half of the baseball season, the New York Mets lineup has been top heavy. Fortunately, the Brandon Nimmo – Francisco Lindor – Juan Soto – Pete Alonso top four has been so awesome that the Mets are only a half game out of first place.
If the team wants to get to that next level and back to the NLCS, they’re going to need more help. It can’t just be Jeff McNeil as the only capable hitter past that “Fab Four.”
There are two reasons the bottom half of the Mets lineup hasn’t clicked. First, Jesse Winker has been out most of the year with injuries. Mostly, it has been the struggles of Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez.
For both Vientos and Álvarez, injuries have played a part. Vientos had a slow start and then a hamstring injury. Álvarez opened the year on the IL, which complicated his trying to adapt a new swing at the plate.
For Vientos, the slow start and injuries saw him lose the third base job to Brett Baty. With inconsistent playing time, Vientos just couldn’t get back on track.
After Starling Marte and Winker hit the IL, the Mets had no choice than to give Vientos consistent playing time. He’s responded going 7-for-19 with two doubles, a triple, and three RBI. That included that bases clearing go-ahead RBI double.
Vientos gets hot this time of year. Last July, he hit .283/.330/.554. In the second half, he hit 15 of his 27 homers. He carried that forward to that monster postseason he had.
With respect to Álvarez, his struggles led the Mets to send him to Triple-A Syracuse. Not only was the new swing not working, but he was also carrying the offensive struggles behind the dish. Essentially, he regressed in every area of his game.
Well, it appears Álvarez’s new swing is no longer a work in process. He’s now absolutely destroying baseballs.
He’s homered in three straight games, and he’s hit eight homers over his last 13 games. Over his last 12 games, he’s hitting .326/.392/.848 with three doubles, seven homers, and 15 RBI. That’s the slugger we expected him to be.
For Álvarez, it’s more than the offense. The work behind the plate has improved as well. Notably, we’ve seen Brandon Sproat take off while working with Álvarez. Nolan McLean has had consecutive 10 strikeout starts with Álvarez behind the plate.
Certainly, Álvarez is rounding back into form, and he should soon find himself back in the majors. When he does, he will replace Luis Torrens, who has struggled mightily at the plate since taking over primary catching duties.
With Álvarez back and Vientos back to form, the Mets lineup is suddenly lethal. Instead of a Fab Four, it’s a Slugging Six. With McNeil, it’s seven All-Star caliber hitters (McNeil is a two time All-Star). They can have Baty and Tyrone Taylor be in the lineup just for their defense.
Ultimately, the Mets lineup is going to be deep and lethal, and they can lead the Mets to the World Series. It just took much longer than we all expected it would.
Mark Vientos was drafted in 2017, and he’s now on his seventh general manager. Maybe that’s part of the reason the Mets keep pushing him aside for other less producing players.
When Vientos was drafted as a shortstop, he was almost immediately moved to third base. He hasn’t been great there defensively, which is a large part of his problem.
The biggest issue for Vientos was Brett Baty being drafted in the first round of the 2019 draft. It was a new regime, and they identified their third baseman of the future.
The other issue has been Ronny Mauricio. In 2017, he was given a then Mets record signing bonus. Mauricio is blocked at his natural shortstop, and the question has been where does he eventually land.
Of these three players, Vientos is the only one with any success at the Major League level. Last season, he was a monster with 27 homers and a 133 wRC+.
Vientos was arguably the Mets best hitter in the postseason. Over the Mets 13 games, Vientos hit .327/.362/.636 with five homers. That included three homers in the NLCS.
We hoped Vientos would springboard from that. Unfortunately, he’s having a lost season.
Typically a slow starter, Vientos had a bad start to the season. Then, he was injured. Somehow he got Wally Pipped by Baty and Mauricio.
Baty has a 92 wRC+. Since June 1, he’s hitting .198/.257/.330. The Mets are pushing him over Vientos for this complete lack of production.
Mauricio has been better with a 107 wRC+. Like Baty, he can’t hit left-handed pitching with a .118/.167/.118 batting line. That is despite the fact Mauricio is a switch hitter.
Since Vientos returned from the IL, he’s started just five games over an eight game stretch. He’s become a short-side platoon option.
Last season, Vientos had a 127 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. That’s far better than the numbers Baty and Mauricio are producing. More than that, it’s just solid proof and evidence Vientos can hit right-handed pitching.
It’s gotten real bizarre. In the series finale against the New York Yankees, Carlos Mendoza lifted Vientos for Mauricio. It did work in the short term as Mauricio and Baty would get back-to-back pinch hits.
Now, it needs to be noted it worked in a vacuum. Those consecutive pinch hit singles were part of two run inning which saw the Mets pull within 5-4.
Yankees left-handed reliever Tim Hill allowed a single to Mauricio. That was just his second hit in 18 at-bats against left-handed pitch. Baty, and his 39 wRC+ against left-handed pitching, followed. He hit into a double play ending the Mets last real chance of the day.
The Mets would lose 6-4. It’s just one loss for a team that is having an otherwise very good year. That said, this loss highlighted the Mets biggest problem.
They gave up on Vientos.
Vientos has struggled, and he’s not forcing the Mets to play him. He’s being treated as a short side platoon option, and it’s hurting the team.
Make no mistake, Baty has not been good this year. Mauricio has shown flashes, but he’s still limited. Unlike Vientos, both players are just platoon options.
The Mets have a massive hole at third base. Their lineup is shallow. Both of these issues are directly related to Vientos.
Vientos started the issue by struggling and getting hurt. The Mets made it worse by giving up on him for a player in Baty who continues to show he’s not a starter at the Major League level.
It’s time to give Vientos some run. Let him get back to last year’s form (the same player he was in the minors). If they invest in him, the Mets lineup will be complete, and they will have their best postseason hitter from last year ready to help the team on another deep run.
On June 4, Francisco Lindor was hitting .279/.353/.490, and the Mets were 39-23. In that game, Los Angeles Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin hit Lindor in the foot. As a result, Lindor broke his right foot.
After Lindor broke his toe, he got a day off. The Mets did lose to the Dodgers, and they followed that with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals.
Over that stretch, Lindor wasn’t great. Part of the reason is he pushed it. In his first start, he was 3-for-5 while stealing two bases.
Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was proving to Carlos Mendoza he was good to go. Whatever the case, he pushed it, and he hasn’t been good since. Neither have the Mets.
Since that 3-for-5 game, Lindor is hitting .163/.218/.288 with four doubles and two homers. He hasn’t attempted another stolen base.
Over that stretch, the Mets are 7-14 with embarrassing sweeps to the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. They went from 4.5 games up in the division to 1.5 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies.
What is all the more frustrating is this is happening while Juan Soto has been a monster. He arguably had the greatest offensive month in Mets history, and it still couldn’t prevent the annual June Swoon.
Now, this isn’t all Lindor. The rotation is falling apart. In this month alone Kodai Senga, Griffin Canning, and Tylor Megill went down, and Sean Manaea had a setback in his rehab.
That has led to more starts/appearances for Paul Blackburn and Blade Tidwell. It’s exhausting the bullpen, and they’re faltering.
Mark Vientos is working his way back, and Francisco Álvarez is trying to rediscover himself in Triple-A. There are issues top to bottom.
We can list the excuses and reasons. Fact is all of these excuses were present last year. Things were far worse. Much of that changed when Lindor turned his season around and became a legit MVP candidate.
The Mets are their best when Lindor is at his best. Problem is Lindor is wounded and struggling. So are the Mets.
It’s a delicate balance, but the Mets need Lindor to be Lindor now. Once he gets going, a lot of the ills should go by the wayside. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of days and not months because the Mets can’t afford another month like June.
In the series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies, Luisangel Acuña was inserted into the starting lineup. It was his first start since June 15th.
It’s malpractice to take a 23 year old top prospect and not start him for a week. Problem is, it gets worse the more you look at it.
Acuña has only started four games in June. He has started only three games since Mark Vientos landed on the IL. He’s been a forgotten man since May.
In that time, Brett Baty started 12 games in June and 10 since Vientos’ injury. In the month of June, he’s hitting .145/.213/.255. For the season, he has an 87 wRC+.
When Vientos landed on the IL, Ronny Mauricio was recalled. Even though he was raking in Syracuse, by all accounts, Mauricio was rushed back from the ACL injury.
While true, the bigger issue was the plate discipline. Whatever the issue, Mauricio has been bad hitting .180/.241/.347 (59 wRC+). He has started in 14 games.
Look at that again. Baty has been bad, and he’s started 12 games in June. Mauricio has arguably been worse, and he’s started in 14. Somehow, Acuña only started in four.
Keep in mind, this hasn’t been completely about Jeff McNeil’s return from the IL. Since June 1, Baty has three starts at second, and Mauricio has one. There were at least some opportunities.
Yes, Acuña was struggling. After being named the National League Rookie of the Month for March/April, Acuña hasn’t hit. Since May 4, he’s hit .154/.191/.154.
Make no mistake, he did not earn more playing time with his bat. The problem is the players who got the playing time over him also did not earn it.
When you have three players not performing at the plate, you should be looking to what else the player gives you to justify playing time. All told, Acuña has more impact on the game than Baty or Mauricio.
He’s a better fielder at second or third than Baty or Mauricio. He’s faster and a better base runner. He’s just a more complete baseball player.
Of course, the defense and base running makes Acuña a weapon off the bench. We saw him utilized multiple times as a pinch runner, and he’s made a difference.
That’s just not a role for a 23 year old rookie. Thats the job for a 34 year old journeyman. That’s why demoting Acuña for Travis Jankowski made sense.
Acuña should be getting daily plate appearances. Looking at his solely through that prism, sending him to Syracuse made sense. It was the right decision.
However, the Mets need to do some soul searching. They need to decide why Baty was yet again getting playing time over a better performing younger player. Why are the Mets force feeding a Mauricio when he’s never had Major League success.
Acuña is very likely the best player amongst these three, and he will be the best of these three in the future. Pushing him to the back of line made zero to no sense.
The Mets forgot about Acuña. They played Baty and Mauricio over him, and those two players did not earn their playing time.
In their tenure, David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza have been phenomenal in their decision making. They haven’t gotten the big decisions wrong. This is the first time they have.
Hopefully, this is just a blip and not indicative of a problem in the future. We should be confident this is a blip, but we should watch how they handle these three players for the rest of the season.