Mets call up Mark Vientos

The Mets are calling up Mark Vientos ahead of tonight’s game with the Tampa Bay Rays, per a report by Jeff Passan. Vientos, who made 41 plate appearances in 2022 for the Mets, was ranked eighth on our Amazin’ Avenue Top 25 Prospects list ahead of the season. The corresponding roster move has not yet been announced.

Triple-A has not been much of a challenge for Vientos this season, as he is batting .333/.416/.688 with 11 doubles and 13 home runs in 38 games. Here is what our Steve Sypa said about him when writing up his Top 25 entry:

A year after his breakout 2021, Vientos had a near-identical season, this time in Triple-A Syracuse instead of Double-A Binghamton. Back in 2018, I compared Vientos to Nolan Gorman and the comparison still stands, with their numbers, strengths, and weaknesses remaining almost identical all these years later- Gorman admittedly has more defensive value, although at second base with St. Louis he is as poor a defender there as Vientos is at third. Given that Vientos’ path to regular playing time at both third base and first are both blocked in the short and long-term future, it will be interesting to see how the Mets use him. The bat is worth getting into the lineup.

The real question is where Vientos will play for the Mets. In Syracuse this season, he has played exclusively first and third base, two positions blocked by Pete Alonso and Brett Baty, respectively. The Mets, specifically Buck Showalter, have expressed concern about starting a young player at designated hitter with any regularity, and Vientos has’t played another position on the field since 2021, when he played 12 games in left field.

The Mets’ lineup has struggled mightily as of late. Aside from a one-inning spectacle from Sunday, the offense has been ineffective for the better part of a month. The Mets currently are ranked 19th in baseball with a team OPS of .704.