<\/p>\n
A year ago, Mark Vientos showed up at the Mets\u2019 spring training complex with a Florida-sized chip on his shoulder but no spot on the roster. Last month, with Pete Alonso\u2019s status very much in limbo, Vientos got a phone call telling him to shift his offseason focus to first base, suggesting another February project could be on tap.<\/p>\n
And this week? Vientos rolled into Clover Park the happiest Met on record, with Alonso\u2019s return kicking him back to third \u2014 his home last season \u2014 and the security of knowing he\u2019s now an integral part of baseball\u2019s most dangerous lineup (in the proud estimation of teammate Francisco Alvarez).<\/p>\n
\u201cI can agree with that, honestly,\u201d Vientos said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll need to do more than merely double-down on Alvarez\u2019s boast, though, because Vientos \u2014 based on his blistering success over a relatively short period of time \u2014 could very well be the slugger the whole thing hinges on.<\/p>\n
Last March, Vientos went from being the penciled-in regular DH to booted to Triple-A Syracuse during the final days of spring training, courtesy of the surprise signing of J.D. Martinez. By the end of April, however, Vientos had supplanted struggling buddy Brett Baty as the everyday third baseman. By mid-August, he was the Mets\u2019 No. 2 hitter, the spot reserved for the team\u2019s most lethal bat.<\/p>\n
And then there was October, when Vientos showed his flair for the big stage by hitting .327 (18-for-55) with five homers, 14 RBIs and a .998 OPS in 13 games.<\/p>\n
Vientos always was confident \u2014 demotion after demotion \u2014 but in backing up his bravado with that eye-popping production, he took the \u201cSwaggy V\u201d experience to the next level.<\/p>\n
The big question: can Vientos stay up in that stratosphere? He\u2019s been doubted plenty before, particularly by the former Billy Eppler-Buck Showalter regime, so silencing the skeptics is nothing new. But often the hardest part about getting to the top is staying there, and Vientos has set the bar awfully high after smashing 27 homers with an .837 OPS in 111 regular-season games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s a fair expectation,\u201d president of baseball operations David Stearns said Thursday. \u201cI think we have to understand that he had a really, really good year last year. He\u2019s worked incredibly hard this offseason because he knows it\u2019s just going to get tougher. The league is going to make adjustments to him and he\u2019s going to have to make adjustments back. So I think what we\u2019re stressing to him is just focus on what you can control, recognize that it doesn\u2019t get easier, but he\u2019s in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the starting third baseman for a World Series contender, Vientos wouldn\u2019t argue with that assessment \u2014 especially given the situation he\u2019s come from. After frequently being exiled to Syracuse, where he was tasked with improving his defense, Vientos proved over and over that his bat was too big for Triple-A before finally sticking with the Mets last season.<\/p>\n
For that reason, neither Stearns nor manager Carlos Mendoza has to school him on handling adversity. Vientos weathered his share of disappointment before last year\u2019s April call-up, and the way he raked upon arrival, it was clear he had no intention of going back down. That mentality is why he showed up this week to work out when only pitchers and catchers were required to be at the facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoes to show you that he\u2019s not satisfied,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cEven throughout the offseason, his work was phenomenal \u2014 he was getting after it. I saw him in early January and he looked like he was ready to play nine innings. He worked really hard at third base with his defense and physically, he looks really good. The fact that he\u2019s already here, that shows you that he\u2019s on a mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stearns said the Mets\u2019 goal is to be open and honest with their players when it comes to areas of improvement, and for Vientos, that meant concentrating on his lateral movement. While Stearns mentioned that Vientos isn\u2019t going to have the range of a Matt Chapman (five Gold Gloves), he believes the effort put in is going to yield tangible results, especially after putting first base aside.<\/p>\n
Vientos\u2019 glove had been his biggest roadblock to the majors, but he played the position well enough that it never really became part of the conversation. His bat did the talking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the expectations, I love the pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cI love people rooting for me \u2014 or rooting against me. It motivates me to work harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of hostile environments, Stearns smiled when he brought up Vientos\u2019 tying two-run homer in the ninth inning of NLDS Game 2 at Citizens Bank Park, where Vientos silenced 45,000 people with one mammoth swing, hitting his second homer of the afternoon.<\/p>\n
As for how those October heroics translate in predicting Vientos\u2019 numbers this season \u2014 FanGraphs\u2019 Steamer projection has him at 32 homers and 92 RBIs \u2014 Stearns didn\u2019t claim to have a crystal ball for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know \u2014 other than he\u2019s not scared,\u201d he said. \u201cThe moment doesn\u2019t impact him. He\u2019s ready to go and he wants to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no question Vientos is ready now. It just took last season to convince everyone else, and after what he\u2019s been through, he\u2019ll never stop trying to do exactly that.<\/p>\n
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball’s Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mark Vientos has shown that he not only swings a potent bat but that he can handle adversity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n