Last season, there was reason to believe that Mark Vientos had established himself as the New York Mets' long-term solution at third base. His bat took off, and while his glove was far from Gold Glove-caliber, it was certainly better than advertised. But his defense taking a step back this season should have the Mets rethinking Vientos' future position.
Pete Alonso's throwing error in the eighth inning in Sunday's series finale against the New York Yankees took center stage, and for good reason, but it overshadowed Vientos' first-inning miscue, which led to two Yankees runs in an eventual 8-2 loss.
It's easy to discard this as a real issue since the Mets are 29-18, holding one of the best records in the Majors, but it's getting harder to consider Vientos a legitimate third baseman at the MLB level. The team's recent lineups suggest that they're getting fed up with his lack of defensive improvement as well.
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Mark Vientos is playing himself out of the third base job
33 of Vientos' first 34 appearances of the season came at third base, with only one DH start. Vientos is now serving as the team's DH on Monday for the fourth time in the last nine games. Some of his DH uptick does have to do with Jesse Winker's injury, leading to more playing time for Brett Baty at third base and opening the DH spot. However, the Mets don't have to use Vientos as their DH. They're doing it because of his struggles defensively.
Vientos has been worth -6 OAA this season, tying him for the fourth-worst mark in the Majors according to Baseball Savant. For reference, players like Jasson Dominguez, Juan Soto and Luis Arraez, all of whom get crucified for their defense, have been better in the field by this metric. Last season, Vientos was worth -7 OAA in over 100 games. He's almost there already in less than half the time. That's not a good thing.
His bat is good enough to play regularly; nobody is disputing that. He got off to a slow start to this season but is hitting .296 in May and is slashing .302/.337/.500 in his last 28 games. He has quietly been one of the most productive players in the Mets' lineup for a while now. His defense, though, continues to be a problem.
The Mets never expected him to be a Gold Glover, but he's performing like one of the worst defensive players in the game. It's really hard to justify using him much in the field, especially while Baty has been hitting better and while Winker is hurt. Even when Winker comes back from his injury, if Baty is still hitting well, he should probably be the third baseman with Vientos at DH.
Vientos is going to play as long as he's hitting, but if he can't play third base, the Mets can't afford to force the issue. Fortunately, as the DH starts continue to pile up, it's looking like they're running out of patience.