Mark

Vientos

Vientos hit sixth the previous four games. He’s still struggling mightily, having opened up 4-for-34 with no homers. That he’s moving back up seems like a reaction to Brett Baty taking a seat in favor of Luisangel Acuña. When the left-handed-hitting Baty plays, he bats seventh. However, with all righties at the bottom of the order tonight, the Mets are slotting Vientos back in between lefties Brandon Nimmo and Winker.

It’s the third straight game that Vientos has batted sixth after opening the year as New York’s cleanup hitter. He’s been bumped down below veteran Jesse Winker for Saturday’s showdown after going .074 (2-for-27) through seven games. The encouraging sign here is that he’s struck out only twice in 29 plate appearances, but he’s struggling at the moment. We’re banking on him turning things around eventually, but it hasn’t happened yet.

It’s been a tough week for Vientos. His early-season struggles at the dish continued during Wednesday’s extra-inning marathon at loanDepot park when he made a costly throwing error that led to a run crossing the plate. His ongoing issues come on the heels of Mets manager Carlos Mendoza speaking to him after he failed to run out a ground ball during Tuesday’s showdown against the Marlins. It’s way too early for fantasy managers to overreact, but his latest hitless performance leaves him batting .083 (2-for-24) with one RBI through six games. It’s not great.

All three of Vientos’ hits in the contests were singles and he didn’t factor into the scoring of the club’s lone run in the ballgame. The 25-year-old slugger is off to a nice start in Grapefruit League play, hitting .294 (5-for-17), though he’s still looking for his first round-tripper. Vientos has found himself going just inside the top 100 players overall in recent fantasy drafts, making him the eighth option off the board at the third base position.

Nimmo, who said he’s turned the corner in his recovery from plantar fasciitis, played left field and batted fourth today. The cleanup spot would probably belong to Mark Vientos if handedness was not a factor, but as is, it makes sense to slot the left-handed Nimmo in between Pete Alonso and Vientos, at least against righties. Vientos actually finished last year batting second, but that is Juan Soto’s spot now.

Nothing has been finalized at this early stage of spring training, but Mendoza’s latest musing re-affirms the widely-held belief that Lindor will remain in the leadoff spot, which he did 109 times last season. Soto’s on-base and power skills make the most sense in the second spot, which should provide middle-of-the-order run producers Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos with plenty of RBI opportunities with a pair of NL MVP candidates setting the table.

Sherman adds that the Mets have already begun to pivot away from the Polar Bear by re-signing Jesse Winker to a one-year, $7.5 million contract and will make a run at signing lefty closer Tanner Scott, the top reliever left on the open market. We can’t totally dismiss the possibility that Alonso or the Mets make a last-ditch effort in the coming weeks, but it sounds increasingly unlikely that he’s going to return to New York. Sherman notes that barring a last-minute reversal, New York is planning to move Mark Vientos to first base with Luisangel Acuña, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio battling for the starting job at the hot corner.

Vientos took Ryan Brasier deep in the fourth inning to make it a 6-3 game. It was the fifth homer of the postseason, but unfortunately for the Mets the last with Los Angeles winning the series 4-2. Vientos had a very strong regular season, but was at a different level this October with a slash of .327/.362/.636. Vientos should be a strong fantasy option for 2025 and beyond.

Vientos’ home run was his fourth of the playoffs. He hit a solo shot off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the first inning. Vientos now has 12 RBI in the postseason. The Mets have fallen behind 3-1 in the series, but Vientos has done all he can to help the team. He’s hitting .370 with a 1.070 OPS in October.

The slam came in a 2-0 game after the Mets walked Francisco Lindor with first base open and two outs in the second. To be fair, Lindor did homer in the first. That was off opener Ryan Brasier, though, and the Dodgers had Landon Knack in the game at that point. Lindor may have a postseason advantage over Vientos with all of his experience, but the choice was between two guys with very similar regular-season numbers, and all margin for error was gone with the bases loaded, whereas there would have been some with the base open working to Lindor. After the homer, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pretty much gave up on winning this one, saving all of his best relievers for Wednesday’s Game 3. Walker Buehler and Luis Severino are the scheduled starters then.