Insider Reveals Who New York Mets' Starting Third Baseman Will Be

It seems like the New York Mets know who their starting third baseman will be on Opening Day.

Coming into the season, it was expected that the third base position for the New York Mets would have a hotly contested competition to decide who would become the starter for Opening Day.

Unfortunately, star prospect Ronny Mauricio tore his ACL while playing in the Dominican Winter League.

That limited the number of players in the competition, and it seemed like only two of the Mets' youngsters would truly be in contention to earn that spot if the front office didn't sign a veteran.

So far, David Stearns has continued with his plan of giving the young players a shot, turning down pursuing different options on the market.

Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, both 24 years old, were once considered top-five prospects in New York's farm system.

They got their first true shots in the MLB last season, but both struggled to be consistent at the plate, causing them to bounce back and forth between the bigs and the minors.

However, the talented players are expected to get another opportunity with the Mets on the Opening Day roster as they continue to battle it out at third during camp.

Mike Puma of The New York Post revealed which roles each of these youngsters will be in throughout the 2024 season.

"It would be surprising if Brett Baty and Mark Vientos aren't both on the roster to start the season ... Baty will be the regular third baseman, with Vientos probably playing the position occasionally and receiving at-bats as the DH," he writes.

This probably doesn't come as a shock to many.

Baty was long thought to be New York's third baseman of the future, but his offensive struggles really put that into question. He's primarily been used in that role, though, with 100 of his Major League games in 2023 being played at third, 94 of them coming as a starter.

Vientos is a power bat and the coaching staff thinks he'll be much more consistent this year after figuring some things out late.

If both these two can take the next step in their careers this season, then the Mets will have a much better idea about who likely will be part of this organization as the front office reworks this roster.