How Mets will use Mark Vientos' example to help shape their 2025 team
Mark Vientos #27 of the Mets reacts after his first inning home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS at Citi Field on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
SAN ANTONIO — All of last offseason, throughout spring training and into the baseball new year, David Stearns held steady in his philosophy and with his words-turned-actions: Young players who play well in the minors will get — and need — an opportunity to prove themselves in the majors. It is a key tenet to his big-picture, organization-building approach.
Heading into Year 2 of the Mets’ Stearns era, that is true again. And this time, their next potential contributors have a tangible example to look to in Mark Vientos, who after spending the first quarter of the season relegated to the minor leagues received his first extended shot, broke out at the plate and became a lineup staple.
Maybe Luisangel Acuna will do the same in 2025? Or Ronny Mauricio? Brett Baty? They are far from locks for the Opening Day roster, but Stearns promised Tuesday what he promised a year ago: Guys will get a chance.
“Regardless of what offseason we’re going to have, regardless of where we are from an organizational perspective, we have to allow young players to play,” Stearns said at the general managers’ meetings. “This is going to be true every single year for us. We were able to see that this year with Mark coming up and really establishing himself. If we allow ourselves to have those opportunities in future years as well, we’re going to get rewarded for it.”
That comment came amid a longer line of questioning about the Mets’ glut of infielders (some of whom can play or might play the outfield). They all are interesting pieces in their own way, but none fit neatly into a 2025 puzzle in the early stages of forming.
For second base, in addition to incumbent Jeff McNeil, the Mets have Acuna (also shortstop and centerfield), Mauricio (also third base and shortstop) and Baty (also third base and maybe corner outfield). There’s a lot going on.
“Having multiple young players who have the type of talent that those guys have, who can all play multiple positions — if that’s where we are come spring training, that’s a very enviable position to be in,” Stearns said.
Acuna, 23 next season, left the best impression of the bunch, batting .308 with a .966 OPS in 14 games. That was way better than his .258 average and .654 OPS in a much larger sample in Triple-A.
Most encouraging, Stearns said, was Acuna’s “exceptional defense in very pressured situations” as well as his newly shown ability to swing less often at pitches outside the strike zone.
“We also understand it was a couple of weeks,” Stearns said. “I think we have a significant amount of performance history on all those guys to really fall back on.”
Mauricio, who will be 24, might be a bit of a forgotten man publicly. Not in the eyes of Mets decision-makers, though.
He is coming off two right knee surgeries that cost him all of 2024. The club expects him to be healthy for spring training “at this point,” Stearns said. That is a question because his rehabilitation has progressed slowly. Stearns said he didn’t know why.
“At every step of this rehab process, it's just gone a little bit slower, taken a little bit longer,” he said. “We've had a little bit more inflammation in the knee than we would have liked at various points, which has caused us to back off, get the inflammation under control and then restart the process. So it's very difficult for me to say exactly why, other than some people's bodies just recover differently from significant surgeries.”
And then there is Baty, who turns 25 this month. He has lost the third-base job in consecutive seasons but learned second in the minors well enough and quickly enough that Stearns didn’t rule out trying him in the outfield.
“We learned that he’s able to take a punch and go down and keep working,” Stearns said.
Baty said last month: “Just seeing the ball off the bat from that side of the field was a little weird at first, but . . . it’s starting to feel more and more comfortable.”
Top prospect Jett Williams “still has some things to accomplish in the minor leagues,” Stearns said. He missed most of 2024 because of a wrist issue. So check back midseason.
As for Vientos? The Mets ostensibly are comfortable with him playing either corner-infield spot. That offers flexibility when it comes to re-signing Pete Alonso, adding another first baseman or bringing in a third baseman.
“Mark can play both,” Stearns said. “And to his credit, he's shown that with his work ethic and diligence he can get better defensively. And so I'd have confidence with Mark at either.”
Notes & quotes: Free agent Willy Adames prefers to stay at shortstop but is willing to move to third base, sources familiar with his thinking said. But it would have to be the right situation — money, yes, but also the ability to win. Stearns declined to comment on Adames (whom he acquired for the Brewers in a 2021 trade) because “I'm not going to talk about any specific free agent” . . . Stearns said Kodai Senga “is going to have a normal offseason” after an injury-ravaged 2024.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
