Inside The Mets

Mets, Mark Vientos aren't concerned about his slow start to 2025

Mets' third baseman Mark Vientos is off to a slow start this season, but neither he or the team is concerned about his lack of results at this point.

Mike Phillips

Mar 28, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos (27) hits an RBI double during the second inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Mar 28, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos (27) hits an RBI double during the second inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets have gotten off to a solid start, winning four of their first seven games this season, but they haven't gotten much help from third baseman Mark Vientos.

After a breakthrough 2024 campaign that saw him seize the third base job and star in the postseason, Vientos has just two hits in his first 27 at-bats of the season.

Vientos has gone hitless in his past three games and has been dropped from fifth to sixth in the Mets' batting order by Carlos Mendoza. Nonetheless, the Mets have continued to start Vientos at third because of a shared belief that his struggles are largely due to bad luck, which NJ Advance Media's Manny Gomez broke down in an exclusive interview with Vientos.

"I see the pitches pretty good. Just nothing's falling," Vientos told Gomez. "So obviously that's just the game we play. It's funny, (you) just gotta trust the process."

A deeper dive into Vientos' at bats, as Gomez did in his story, shows evidence that Vientos isn't chasing pitches and has the second-fewest strikeouts (four) on the team, trailing only Juan Soto. The Mets have also seen Vientos record just a .086 batting average on balls in play (abbreviated as BABIP), and a measure that low is often a sign of hitting into bad luck. The encouraging fact for Vientos is that he hasn't started to expand the strike zone to try and produce results, which could lead to a more prolonged slump.

Read More: Mets' Jeff McNeil experimenting with torpedo bats during injury rehab

The fact that Mendoza hasn't benched Vientos is also a good sign since the Mets believe that Vientos hasn't developed bad habits during this skid. Moving Vientos down to sixth in the batting order will allow him to keep getting the reps he needs to get going, but with a bit less pressure than when he was batting fifth.

Few players have more explosive potential in the Mets' lineup than Vientos, who was almost unstoppable down the stretch of the 2024 season and set a new franchise record for RBI in a single postseason last October. The fact the Mets are winning games, unlike 2024's 0-5 start, has also made it easier for Vientos to just do his job the right way knowing the results will come eventually.

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Mike Phillips
MIKE PHILLIPS

Mike Phillips is a contributor to the Mets On SI site. Mike has been covering the Mets since 2011 for various websites, including Metstradamus and Kiners Korner. Mike has a Masters Degree from Iona University in Sports Communications and Media and also has experience covering the NFL and college basketball on FanSided. Mike also hosts his own New York sports based podcast. You can follow Mike on Twitter/X and Instagram: @MPhillips331.

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