NEW YORK -- This time two years ago, Mark Vientos was atop the baseball world. Just 24 years old, Vientos was enjoying a breakout season that saw him hit 27 homers in 111 games, becoming a focal point of the Mets’ lineup. He was about to have one of the most productive Octobers of anyone in baseball, with five home runs and 14 RBIs over 13 games.
Then everything changed. Vientos’ production lapsed. Injuries struck. Opportunities withered. Before Jared Young’s concussion created a lineup vacancy this weekend, Vientos had started just three of the Mets’ 15 September games, taking a total of 15 plate appearances.
He had been marginalized.
Vientos is now two months away from a decision that could end his time with the franchise. Arbitration-eligible for the first time in his career, he is a non-tender candidate.
“Do I want to be a New York Met? Of course I want to be a New York Met,” Vientos said this week. “This is the team that I got drafted by and I have so many great memories with. But it’s whatever life has in store for me.”
How exactly did Vientos get here? A second-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, he was one of the youngest players in his Draft class, oozing with enough potential that some pundits compared him to a young Manny Machado or Alex Rodriguez. Following a methodical ascent through the Minor Leagues, Vientos debuted as a 22-year-old in 2022, then broke out with the “OMG” Mets two years later. At the time, he looked the part of a budding superstar.
The next year, Vientos slumped immediately, taking a sub-.600 OPS into late April. In May, he began to lose playing time. In June, he went on the injured list with a right hamstring strain, which only compounded his issues. The following month, as trade rumors swirled around him, Vientos expressed his displeasure with the loss of opportunities.
When the calendar flipped, Vientos’ situation did not. An offseason of additional rumors gave way to a miserable spring for Vientos, who might have begun the season in the Minors if not for the fact that he was out of options. As things went, Vientos -- again playing sparingly on the short side of a DH platoon -- made it to mid-July before landing on the IL again, this time with a fractured right hand. He didn’t make it back until Aug. 31.
“After '24, I had expectations,” Vientos said. “When those expectations don’t come, you start to wonder, ‘What do I need to do?’ … I believe what I did in '24, that’s me.
“I feel like these past two years were just learning experiences that I really appreciated. And I think it’s going to help me for sure.”
Here in late September, Vientos is playing out the string with his future murky. If the Mets tender him a contract, they will set Vientos up for a significant raise through the arbitration process. (To date, he has earned close to the MLB minimum each year he has been in the league.) If they non-tender him, they will cut ties with a talented slugger who has yet to reach his 27th birthday. New York could also tender Vientos a contract and try to trade him, or tender him and cut him loose in Spring Training at a fraction of the cost.
At this point, it’s entirely unclear how the team will proceed after consecutive years of fits and starts.
“I don’t know,” Vientos said when asked about his curiosity regarding the future. “It’s almost the same thing as my curiosity of what I’m going to eat for breakfast tomorrow. I don’t know. Whatever happens, happens, and I just go with the flow.”
Right now, Vientos said, he’s happy with his playing time, content with his situation. Young’s injury should only open additional reps for Vientos, who went 1-for-3 with a walk on Friday in a 6-3 win over the Phillies. He entered the night sporting an .885 OPS against southpaws, which was more than 100 points higher than the next-best qualified Met.
“I applaud him for it,” Green said. “You see him approaching this the right way. And this is not an easy thing to have playing time kind of clipped from what you’ve been used to. So, pleased with the way he’s walked through it. He’s had good energy. He’s been a good teammate.”
For Vientos, it’s potentially one last chance to show what he can do. He says he wants to remain a Met. What remains to be seen is if the feeling is mutual.