Photo by Ed Delany, MMN
No. 5 Mark Vientos, 3B
B/T: R/R Age: 20 (12/11/1999)
Height: 6’4″ Weight: 185 lbs
ETA: 2023 Previous Rank: 9
Acquired: 2017 Amateur Draft (2nd round, American Heritage HS, FL)
2019 Stats: 111 G, .255/.300/.411, 27 2B, 12 HR, 62 RBI, 105 wRC+
It’s hard to believe that the 2020 season — if one ever does materialize — will be Mark Vientos’ third full year and fourth season overall as a Mets minor leaguer. And yet, the slender third baseman will be just 20 years old for any games played during the prospective campaign.
As a teenager for the final time in 2019, Vientos was quietly solid across 111 games with Low-A Columbia, a two-level jump up from Rookie Kingsport, where he spent 2018. By the time the dust settled, Vientos was named the organization’s 2019 Hitter of the Year.
I use “quiet” to describe his 2019 season because not much about it was flashy. He hit 12 home runs, tied for the 13th-most in the South Atlantic League and only posted a month-long OPS over .800 once (July, .813).
But I also use “solid” to describe Vientos’ year because he was actually pretty darn good for a 19-year-old that was exposed to full-season ball for the first time. After a rocky first month in which he hit .227 and left the yard just once, he rebounded to hit .260 from May 1 through the end of the year (league average was .239).
Vientos also recorded a 122 DRC+, which, in short, means that his outcomes were very good in relation to his peers. And though age is not directly baked into any metric, Vientos was one of just 13 teenagers last year to top 120 DRC+ at any level (min. 300 PA).
Age is certainly an important factor when analyzing performance and development, and I have to tip my cap to the Mets for pushing a priority prospect to a challenging level and keeping him there. Vientos could have easily stayed back in Extended Spring Training and opened in Brooklyn in June, but he was able to work his kinks out and make the necessary adjustments.
Among just 13 qualified teenagers in the SAL, Vientos finished with the lowest groundball rate (38.4%) and second-highest HR/FB rate (10.3%). That underscores his impressive power that continues to manifest itself in games.
.@Mets_Minors 2019 Year in Review:
3B @MarkVientos_5 was named the organization's offensive player of the year after hitting 12 home runs for Low-A Columbia at just 19 years old.
Some of these blasts to straightaway center field were ridiculous: pic.twitter.com/MZA5tcl4E1
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) December 26, 2019
“He can really impact the baseball,” Mets director of player development Jared Banner told Baseball America in August. “It’s impressive the power he has the other way. You don’t see that in a lot of kids his age. That definitely sticks out.
“I think we just focus on keeping him through the middle of the field, keeping him confident and trusting himself at the plate with a quality approach, just swinging at pitches he should swing at and taking pitches he should take.”
Banner’s quote underscores a sizable hole in Vientos’ present profile. He struck out five times for every walk in 2019, which was in the seventh percentile across all qualified minor leaguers. Still, it’s a common thread among young hitters and, while he profiles to prioritize power over average as a major leaguer, there’s quite a bit of time to straighten out the swing-and-miss in his game.
Fangraphs, in placing him at 106 on their global top 100 prospects list, summed up his outlook succinctly, writing: “Because we’re talking about a corner bat with strikeout/walk rate yellow flags, Vientos is a high-risk bat but the power gives him middle-of-the-order potential.” He’s just one of just 25 minor leaguers (out of nearly 400) that Fangraphs gave a future 70 raw power grade to.
The glove isn’t much to write home about. He’ll be plugged into third base throughout the minor leagues due to limited range, but he has a very strong arm that could benefit him if a move to a corner outfield spot is necessary down the line.
There are two main factors that I’m looking out for during Vientos’ continued development. First, the Mets drafted another very good third base prospect in the first round in 2019. Though Brett Baty is a level behind Vientos, he is actually a month older and has two fewer seasons of minor league experience. If they overlap as teammates at any point, it will be interesting to see who gets the majority of the third base repetitions and who has to learn a new position.
Second, I’ll be watching to see how Vientos benefits from minor league ballparks that are more forgiving on power hitters. According to a Baseball America study, Vientos played his home games in 2019 in a stadium that favored pitchers by over 10 percent. In a more neutral environment at his next stop with High-A St. Lucie, his numbers could start to improve as a result.
Previous Rankings
6 Brett Baty – 3B, 7 David Peterson – LHP, 8 Shervyen Newton — INF, 9 Thomas Szapucki – LHP, 10 Josh Wolf – RHP, 11 Kevin Smith – LHP, 12 Franklyn Kilome – RHP, 13 Jordan Humphreys – RHP
14 Junior Santos – RHP, 15 Carlos Cortes – 2B, 16 Freddy Valdez – OF, 17 Adrian Hernandez – CF, 18 Dedniel Nunez – RHP
19 Alexander Ramirez – OF, 20 Ali Sanchez – C, 25-21 Led by Jaylen Palmer, 30-26 Led by Ryley Gilliam