Mark

Vientos

It’s the second time in three games over the weekend that Vientos has found himself outside of the Mets’ starting nine. Jared Young will start in his place at first base and will bat third against Athletics’ righty Aaron Civale.

After starting the last seven games in a row, this appears to just be a routine day off for Vientos, who is hitless in his last three appearances. Ronny Mauricio is starting at third base for the Mets and batting seventh.

Soto said over the weekend that he believed he could avoid the injured list and called himself “day-to-day.” Unfortunately, the injury was more severe than that. The team has said that a typical return for this type of injury is between two and three weeks. The Mets would like Brett Baty to take most of Soto’s innings in left field, but Baty jammed his left thumb on Saturday night and didn’t play on Sunday. Baty was allegedly able to pinch hit, so he should be good to go, which would also open up first base at-bats for Mark Vientos, who has been swinging a hot bat lately.

The absence is again due to the Achilles tendinitis that cost him Tuesday’s game before he played the last two days. He’ll probably be back in there Saturday. Mark Vientos is stepping in for him, which makes this his fourth straight start after going the first four games without one.

Vientos victimized Giants’ left-hander Robbie Ray for a 406-foot (108.6 mph EV) solo shot to lead off the second inning, pulling the Mets to within a run at 3-2. That would be as close as they would get in the ballgame. Ater an absolutely brutal spring training, Vientos is now off to a 3-for-8 (.375) start to the season with a homer, one RBI and only one strikeout.

Vientos got the nod at DH against a righty probably mostly because of Jorge Polanco’s Achillies problem, but the Mets went ahead and had Baty hit for him against another righty in the seventh. Vientos is probably going to play mostly against lefties for now, which means he should be in there again Wednesday with the Mets facing Matthew Liberatore.

Polanco will get some extra rest in this one while playing through a relatively minor Achilles issue that flared up last weekend. The 32-year-old veteran should be considered day-to-day for now. He’s likely to be limited to DH for the immediate future. It’ll be Mark Vientos taking over at DH with Jared Young covering first base.

Vientos has had a miserable spring, going 1-for-25 (.040) in eight contests with the Mets, following a forgettable stint with Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic. The 26-year-old figures to open the regular season in a platoon role with Brett Baty at DH and his fantasy value is almost nonexistent in shallow mixed leagues.

Vientos has been ice cold at the plate during his time in Mets’ camp, hitting a woeful .048 (1-for-21) with a 4/0 K/BB ratio. With Brett Baty hitting the ball so well this spring, it’s possible that he pushes Vientos for at-bats if his struggles linger into the start of the regular season.

It’s rather odd seeing Vientos, the one active major leaguer in Nicaragua’s lineup, batting fifth behind Ismael Munguia and Emanuel Trujillo. Still, that all worked out today. Munguia, who hit .246/.313/.342 for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate last season, went 3-for-3 with a walk, and Trujillo, who has never played in the U.S., homered to plate both of Nicaragua’s runs.