For years, the Mets fielded questions about whether Mark Vientos or Brett Baty play third base at the big league level. As it turns out, the answer is both of them.
The Mets are currently using a rotation of Vientos and Baty at third base, depending on pitching matchups and defensive matchups. Baty plays second base on days when Vientos starts at the hot corner, and Vientos gets DH days to get Baty at third. It’s an unconventional rotation, but neither one of them has emerged as a stud defender just yet.
It’s no secret that Vientos has struggled with his glove this season. His defensive metrics rank among the worst out of all qualified third basemen, with -7 outs above average and -8 defensive runs saved. If advanced stats aren’t your thing, consider that Vientos has made seven errors at third this year, tied for the third-most among all qualifiers.
On paper, Vientos checks all of the boxes for a third baseman. He’s a run producer with a power bat and a capable glove, but it’s not exactly an elite glove. Rotating him with Baty, a more fundamentally sound infielder, makes the Mets better, but it’s also been necessitated by the Mets’ relative lack of offense this month.
With the margin for error thin, the Mets need a stingy defense, and Baty has started seven of the last 10 games at third base.
“For me, he’s going through it right now,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday at Citi Field. “It was really good to see him yesterday. He continues to put in the work, that’s how you’re going to get out of it.”
Vientos has been doing extra pregame work with infield coach Mike Sarbaugh even on days when he’s in the lineup as a DH. This is to maintain a consistent workload, but also to improve his defensively. The one thing Vientos has never lacked is confidence, but the Mets don’t want him to internalize his mistakes.
“He’s been working early, just trying to kind of get rid of those thoughts, I guess,” Sarbaugh told the Daily News. “But yeah, it’s just get out and work hard and it’ll turn for him.”
Vientos tends to be better moving toward first base than third, but with a rotation loaded with right-handed ground-ball pitchers, they need him to improve going toward his right.
The Mets know he can improve because they have already seen improvement over the last few years, especially with his first step and his pre-pitch focus levels. Vientos is better able to anticipate plays now and his throws are more accurate.
The point of emphasis for him right now is fielding slow rollers.
“Making sure he stays down through the play,” Sarbaugh said. “I think sometimes, if it’s a fast runner, we start thinking about the throw before we catch the ball.”
They also want to slow the game down for Vientos.
“His first step and all that has been fine, I think it’s just more of just making the routine play,” Sarbaugh said. “I mean, he knows that. He’s just going through a little bit of a time, and he’ll come out of it. I think, too, I think the biggest thing sometimes, as major league players, just in general, is about the routine play. I always tell infielders, ‘Hey, routine plays are the ones that need to be made, and then the great plays just happen.’”
For anyone to work out of a slump, be it offensive or defensive, they have to have opportunities to do so in games. Vientos returned to third base Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox, his second start there in three days, but only his third since May 18.
“It’s like when you’re going through offensive struggles, like you go out there, you continue to work until you get the feeling back,” Mendoza said. “Same thing here. This is a guy that in the off season worked really, really hard for the first step and now he’s going through a stretch where, it happens, but he’s got to continue to work, continue to believe in himself.”
Despite the errors, the Mets still believe in Vientos as a third baseman. The playing time split might not be how they drew it up, but at the moment, it’s working.
