Will the real Mark Vientos please stand up?
Plus, the Mets leave it late to open up the final leg of the road trip with a win...
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 in extra innings at Chase Field on Friday night (box)
RHP Nolan McLean had a nice night on the mound, allowing just one earned run - a solo homer - on three hits and one walk with six strikeouts over six innings
RHP Luke Weaver, LHP Brooks Raley, RHP Devin Williams, and RHP Tobias Myers combined for four scoreless innings out of the bullpen, with Myers striking out two for the first save of his career
Offensively, the Mets managed just two hits over the first nine innings before coming alive in the 10th with some clutch hitting
1B Mark Vientos was at the heart of that, hitting a solo home run in the second inning before plating the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the 10th
CF Carson Benge stayed hot by lacing in a run-scoring ground-rule double to add on an insurance run
The Mets, who are now 5-2 on the road trip, went 3-for-6 with RISP, leaving four runners stranded on base
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
In the latest midweek edition of The Just Mets Podcast, Rich reacts to the team winning a series vs the Rockies but ending with a disappointing loss in the finale.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Play of the Game ⭐️
Other than Mark Vientos’ solo home run in the second inning, the Mets had struggled to get anything going offensively over nine innings in Arizona.
Until extra innings.
With no outs and the runner on second in the 10th, Vientos stepped to the plate and delivered his second clutch hit of the game, ripping a double to score the go-ahead hit and set the Mets up for victory.
Who’s Hot? 🥵
Over his last six games, OF Carson Benge is hitting .400/.526/.800/.1.326 with three doubles, one homer, five runs scored, five RBIs, and four walks
Over his last six games, 1B Mark Vientos is hitting .250/.280/.708/.988 with three homers, four runs scored, and eight RBIs
Who’s Cold? 🥶
Over his last six games, OF Juan Soto is hitting just .125/.185/.333/.519 with seven strikeouts
Over his last six games, 3B/SS Bo Bichette is hitting .192/.222/.192/.415 with no extra-base hits
Down on the Farm 🌾
RHP Jonah Tong (No. 2 prospect, Triple-A): 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 1 HR
OF Nick Morabito (No. 12 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB
LHP Jonathan Santucci (No. 9 prospect, Double-A): 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
3B Jacob Reimer (No. 5 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
RHP Channing Austin (High-A): 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
2B Mitch Voit (No. 7 prospect, High-A): 2-for-4, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 1 SB
BOX SCORES
Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (15-23) at Diamondbacks (17-20)
Where: Chase Field - Phoenix, AZ
Starters: RHP Clay Holmes (4-2, 1.69 ERA) vs. RHP Merrill Kelly (1-3, 9.95 ERA)
When: 7:15 PM EDT
Where to Watch: FOX
Can Mark Vientos actually put it all together and be a consistent threat? ✍️
Man, the Mets don’t make life easy for themselves, do they?
After exploding for 10 runs in the win over the Rockies on Wednesday, the offense followed that up with just two runs in the series finale the following day.
Then, in the series opener against Arizona on Friday, the Mets managed just two hits over nine innings before some clutch hitting in the 10th ultimately won the day.
New York had Mark Vientos to thank for taking the opener against the Diamondbacks, with the first baseman hitting a solo home run in the second inning before driving in the go-ahead run in the 10th with an RBI double.
Carson Benge also stayed hot on the road trip by driving in an insurance run, ensuring the Mets didn’t pay the price for yet another almost no-show by the lineup.
However, there was something on SNY after the game that really caught my eye and left me a little perplexed.
In an article, SNY waxed lyrical about Vientos delivering yet again while staying hot at the plate.
Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.
Sure, Vientos does have three homers, two doubles, four runs scored, and eight RBIs on the road trip so far. And, if we widen the frame a little, he’s now hitting .261 with three doubles, three home runs, five runs scored, 10 RBIs, a .333 on-base percentage, and a .855 OPS over his last 13 games.
However, if you dig a little deeper, then you will soon realize that those stats don’t tell the whole story.
For instance, over that same 13-game stretch, Vientos has also struck out 12 times while offering minimal production in arguably eight of those games.
And therein lies the rub.
While Vientos is capable of putting together mini runs of success, as he is doing right now, he’s still wildly inconsistent and is way too one-dimensional as a player.
He may well go and have a couple of games where he homers and puts up eye-popping numbers, only to then go ice cold for the next few games. I mean, look at the last week or so. He drove in a couple of runs in the series opener against the Rockies, only to then go a combined 0-for-8 with two strikeouts across the final two games.
Maybe I’m being a little too harsh the day after Vientos provided the bulk of the offense, but I do think I’m justified in raising the issue. After all, would any of us be surprised if he goes and does nothing the rest of the weekend?
He’s just way too inconsistent at the plate, and that shouldn’t be a major issue this far into a career. Vientos should be at the point now where he’s well on the way to entrenching himself as an established bat in the heart of that lineup.
Instead, there are way more questions than answers.
We’re a few years into the Vientos experience now, and that breakout 2024 season increasingly looks like the exception rather than the rule. Again, while he has had moments as of late, Vientos has hardly set the world alight. He’s yet to string together just one good month of high-end productivity, and that’s hardly the hallmark of an elite offensive player.
Furthermore, there are still struggles against right-handed pitching, not to mention the fact that when asked to do too much, Vientos has a tendency to implode and become a net-negative. Is that really the sign of someone who can become a good-to-great impact player at the Major League level?
Plus, while Vientos has shown some progression at first base defensively, he doesn’t really offer a whole lot other than power. He’s not a threat on the basepaths, he tends to commit brain farts - like running through a stop sign - he has the ability to make defensive blunders no matter where he plays, and he even struggles to harness his biggest strength a lot of the time. Just look at the Colorado series. Vientos’ power should play beautifully at Coors Field. Instead, he was a non-factor for most of the series there.
Now, granted, Vientos is only 26, so maybe there is still time for him to learn how to put it all together and be a consistent offensive producer. There’s certainly some upside there, and we’ve seen how Vientos can take over games and put the team on his back, as he did in 2024 and last night.
However, the highs happen on a way too infrequent basis, and there isn’t a whole lot of evidence out there to suggest that he has what it takes to become a reliable everyday player for this ballclub.
Given the fact that he’s already a one-dimensional player, I just don’t know how big a future Vientos has with the Mets unless he can figure out a way to add some more consistency to his game.
Nights like last night can suck us back in in a hurry, but now is the time for Vientos to show us what kind of player he really is over a prolonged period of time.
Around the League 🚩
The Yankees called up top OF prospect Spencer Jones, who went 0-for-2 with a walk in his MLB debut on Friday
In the same game, RHP Jacob Misiorowski threw the seven fastest fastballs for a starter in the pitch tracking era and struck out 11 as the Brewers shutout New York, 6-0
The Cubs became just the 5th team in MLB history to record multiple 10-game winning streaks in the first 40 games after beating Texas, 7-1
1B Freddy Freeman mashed his 100th homer as a Dodger in a 3-1 win over his old team the Braves
White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami is now tied for the MLB home run lead after mashing his 15th of the year in a 12-8 loss to the Mariners
Guardians rookie 2B Travis Bazzana hit his first career MLB home run on Friday to help his team to a 6-4 win over the Twins