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MMN Top Prospects: No. 8 Mark Vientos

By John Sheridan

March 1, 2023 No comments

Mark Vientos, Photo by James Farrance

No. 8 Mark Vientos, 1B/3B/DH

B/T: R/R     Age: December 11, 1999 (23)
Ht: 6’4″       Wt: 200 lb.
ETA: 2022  Previous Rank: 5
Acquired: Drafted in the 2nd round of the 2017 June Amateur Draft from American Heritage HS (Plantation, FL)
2022 Stats (Syracuse):.280/.358/.519, 16 2B, 3B, 24 HR, 72 RBI, 2 CS
2022 Stats (MLB): .167/.268/.278, 2B, HR, 3 RBI

There is a common pattern developing in Mark Vientos’ professional career. More and more he answers questions about his deficiencies while continuing to see new questions and doubts emerge about his future. We saw that again in 2022, a year in which Vientos would actually make his Major League debut.

For the first time in his career, Vientos did not take a major leap forward at the plate. The biggest reason why is the strikeouts still plagued him with his having a 28.6 K%. We would also see an uncharacteristically high ground ball and pull rate from him in 2022.

These were issues Vientos had in Single-A before the pandemic and seemed to fix in 2021, but they did re-emerge. However, that should be counter-balanced against Vientos improving his walk rate to 10.3%. This is still a young player working on not just identifying his pitch, but also developing a better understanding of the strike zone.

Behind all of that is his natural power. You can buy into the power, and when Vientos gets a hold of one, he can hit it out of any ballpark. During his brief stint in the majors, we even saw him hit one opposite field in Oakland:

Vientos regularly posts exit velocities in excess of 100 MPH. In fact, during his brief time in the majors, Vientos had an average exit velocity of 93.3 MPH with a high of 111.9 MPH. However, to get the most out of his power, he does need to improve his launch angle and barrel rates. Of course, that is easier said than done.

To that end, Collin Hetzler will be the new Syracuse Mets hitting coach. Hetlzer is formerly of Driveline where he has used advanced data and training tools to improve approach and contact at the plate. He also had a focus on batted ball data and how to improve quality of contact.

As he explained to MMO Weekly, he knows players in Triple-A are a tweak or two away from making it the majors. He also said the organizational philosophy is moving towards focusing on hitting pitches 95 MPH or harder. If you can’t, he’s preaching taking the pitch and working for a walk.

In many ways, this is the next step in Vientos’ development at the plate. He’s progressing towards identifying his pitch and spitting on what he can’t hit. Working more on that could alone help him cut his strike out rate without needing any radical change in his swing and approach, which is something Keith Law of The Athletic warns could lead to a decrease in power.

For Vientos, he has a future in the majors if he can either cut down on the strike outs or create more damage at the plate. The hope is he is going to be better for his experience in the majors and with the new hitting coach. It is going to have to be that way because he will have to be a bat first player if he is going to be a Major Leaguer.

Simply put, Vientos has not improved defensively, and the Mets still do not know where to put him. Shortly after being drafted as a shortstop, he was moved to third. While there has been progress, there simply hasn’t been enough to keep him there long term. Before discussing or even contemplating things he does well there, fact of the matter is Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio are ahead of him defensively at the position, and in reality, Vientos has no real hope of catching them.

For Vientos, his soft hands should play well at first base. The Mets did give him a run there with Syracuse last season, and there was some promising results. Certainly, Vientos has the type of bat which can profile well at the position.

Yes, Vientos would be blocked at first by Pete Alonso, but he’s really blocked at every position. The same goes for DH with Daniel Vogelbach under team control through 2024. Sure, you could argue Vientos could be a platoon option for Vogelbach now and next year, but that is not what is right for his development.

However, we cannot think of Vientos and his path to the majors at the moment. The focus needs to be where he plays best and what he needs to do to even get to the majors. On that front, at each stop in the minors, we have seen Vientos make significant strides to improve, and we need to be cognizant he has been young for his level at each stop. In fact, he was 4.3 years younger than league average last year.

Overall, with Vientos, you have to like the work ethic and ability to make adjustments. There are one or two more to make him ready to be a real threat at the plate at the Major League level no matter what position he plays. Due to injuries, we are likely going to see him in 2023, and he may very well take control of the DH job.

Other prospect rankings:

30-26
25-21
20-16
15-12
11. Matt Allan
10. Calvin Ziegler 
9. Mike Vasil

 

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Written by John Sheridan

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