Photo Credit – Allen Greene Photography

In their weekly Hot Sheet, Baseball America rated Kingsport third baseman Mark Vientos as one of the top 20 prospects this past week while dubbing his teammate, second baseman, Luis Santana as “Helium.”

With respect to Vientos, he had an absolute monster of a week, which saw him go 9-for-24), with two doubles, three homers, and 11 RBI.  On the strength of that week, Vientos not only doubled his season total in homers, but he also entered the Top 10 in the Appalachian League in that category.  Overall, as noted by Baseball America, Vientos has seemingly turned a corner, and he’s trending in the right direction:

The arrows are pointing in the right direction on Vientos, a 6-foot-4 third baseman whose mix of plate patience, bat speed and power project well at the position. For a long-levered hitter, Vientos doesn’t strike out excessively either, and he could be in line for a breakout once he gets to full-season ball in 2019.

Almost as impressive as Vientos’ week was Santana’s.  Entering this season, Santana was thought by many to be a player who could have a breakout season.  He’s having just that as evidenced this past week where he reached base in exactly half of his plate appearances.  During the week, he would hit .412/.500/.471 with a double, an RBI, and a stolen base.

This type of production should be expected from a hitter Baseball America classified as “a strong, 19-year-old right-handed hitter with a compact, efficient swing and excellent bat control, hitting .359/.465/.461 with more walks (20) than strikeouts (14) in 33 games.”

Overall, Vientos and Santana are two pieces of what has been an extraordinary infield in Kingsport, which also includes shortstop Shervyen Newton, who has drawn the most walks not just on the team but in all of the Appalachian League.  Looking at that infield, the future is quite bright for the Mets organization.