Could Vientos break through at DH for Mets?

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- When Jorge Soler agreed to terms with the Giants on a three-year contract early Tuesday morning, one of the top remaining bats came off the market. By all accounts, the Mets never held serious interest in Soler, just as they let Teoscar Hernández and Justin Turner head elsewhere without much of a sniff. In terms of realistic designated hitter targets, only J.D. Martinez remains unsigned. A source recently downplayed rumors of a reported Mets connection with him.

It’s a long way of detailing what president of baseball operations David Stearns has said out loud for months: that he’s comfortable with the Mets’ internal options at third base and DH, and that he values giving young players run at those positions. One of them, Mark Vientos, has made note of such chatter, even while “trying to quiet the noise.” Vientos isn’t blind to the opportunity in front of him.

As things stand, former top prospect Brett Baty is poised to receive the lion’s share of work at third base. That leaves Vientos free to soak up reps at DH -- the exact type of opportunity he’s craved since breaking into the Majors in Sept. 2022.

“It feels like a fresh start,” Vientos said. “It feels like the first day of school. I’m a senior now instead of a junior, and I’m meeting my new teachers.”

A quick history lesson: one of the youngest players in the 2017 Draft when the Mets selected him in the second round of that event, Vientos worked his way up the Minor League ladder before breaking out with a career year in the upper Minors in 2021. But the following season, the Mets held him in Triple-A for nearly the entire summer despite continued strong results.

Last spring, Vientos drove home 11 runs in 54 Grapefruit League at-bats, but he didn’t make the team and wasn’t back up until mid-May. (Team officials cited his defense and strikeout rate as the primary reasons). When Vientos did finally return, then-manager Buck Showalter used him sparingly, rarely starting Vientos on consecutive nights. The rookie struggled, bottoming out with a .500 OPS on Aug. 28. But when he played almost every day down the stretch, Vientos improved, hitting seven homers over his final 26 games.

Now, the decision makers who helped author that history are mostly gone, replaced by a new top baseball operations official -- Stearns -- who values young players and a manager -- Carlos Mendoza -- who insists that “competition brings the best out of people.”

So rather than compete this spring with a pricey free agent on a guaranteed contract, Vientos is set to jockey for third-base reps alongside Baty, Joey Wendle and Zack Short, who all hit .212 or worse in the Majors last season. On the DH side of things, Vientos will try to win a job over Starling Marte, who is the club’s primary right fielder, and DJ Stewart, who broke out around midsummer but slumped badly down the stretch.

As a former top prospect who’s still just 24 years old -- younger than Baty by about a month -- Vientos offers obvious appeal.

“It’ll play itself out,” Mendoza said, speaking broadly on his young players in response to a question about Vientos. “Hopefully, we’re having those discussions at the end of camp. That means they’re not only healthy, but they’re having great camps.”

Until that point, Vientos is taking little for granted. Twice this offseason, he made a seven-hour round-trip drive from South Florida to work out with All-Star teammate Francisco Lindor in Orlando. He subsequently reported to Mets camp two weeks before position players are required to arrive.

“I had second doubts, like, ‘Oh, is it too early?,'" Vientos said. “But no. This is what I love to do. I want to be out here already.”

While no guarantees exist that Vientos will thrive this time around, this is clearly his most robust opportunity to date. On Tuesday morning, Vientos talked at length for the first time with Mendoza, who urged him not to forget what got him to the big leagues in the first place. When a reporter asked later in the day about that skill set, Vientos replied: “Well, I’m a power hitter. I can hit the ball good.”

It really can be that simple.

“I feel like playing every single day gives me the opportunity to showcase myself at my best,” Vientos said. “If I get the opportunity to do that, I’m not going to look back for sure.”