Mark Vientos Gets Called Out By Mets Teammates
The New York Mets have built one of baseball's best teams, particularly on offense. Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Juan Soto are the headliners, but arguably their most important player is third baseman Mark Vientos.
Vientos was outstanding in 2024, hitting 27 home runs with a .266/.322/.516 batting line, good for a 2.9 WAR season. Repeating that production makes the Mets lineup that much deeper and better. And while he certainly has the talent to do so, success is also about effort. Vientos on Tuesday did not put in the effort required to be a star, and his Mets teammates called him out for it.
In the fourth inning of an eventual 4-2 loss to the Miami Marlins, Vientos hit a grounder to third baseman Graham Pauley. Pauley dropped the ball, but Vientos didn't finish out the play by running hard all the way to first, with the Marlins still recording the out.
After the game, manager Carlos Mendoza said that he, Mets first base coach Antoan Richardson, and Lindor spoke to Vientos about the poor effort. And to his credit, Vientos said he "won't let that happen again, for sure."
ATLANTA - Mark Vientos of the New York Mets reacts after hitting a solo homer in the seventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on September 24, 2024. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Mark Vientos Takes Responsibility For Lack Of Effort
When asked about the play, Vientos admitted that he'd "started jogging" instead of going full speed out of the box.
"I hit it to third base and kind of started jogging out of the box, coasting," Vientos said. "Then I heard the crowd giving a reaction like he dropped it, but at that point it was too late. I should have been sprinting from the [start], right when he hit it."
Baserunning mistakes happen, and all you can ask of a young player is taking responsibility when they happen and commit to doing better. That's exactly what Vientos did.
We've seen the importance of running hard out of the box; in the pivotal fifth inning of game five of the 2024 World Series, Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts booked it down to first base on a weakly-hit grounder to Anthony Rizzo. Because he was hustling, Betts was able to take advantage of Gerrit Cole not covering first. That led to a run, kept the inning going for Freddie Freeman, and the rest is history.
Putting in effort changed the outcome of the most important game of the season. Vientos sounds like he's going to do the same moving forward.