Vientos Sets Franchise Record for Hits in Division Series

On March 25, the Mets optioned Mark Vientos to Triple-A Syracuse to begin the season after he struggled mightily during spring training. Just over six months later, Vientos set a franchise by collecting nine hits in the NLDS as the Mets stunned the Phillies to advance to the NLCS.

Vientos was one of the few Mets who solved Ranger Suárez on Wednesday, working a 2-2 count before roping a double into center field with an exit velocity of 108.3 miles per hour. In his second plate appearance, Vientos legged out an infield single when he chopped a curveball down to third base which Alec Bohm couldn’t get a handle on. Batting in the fifth inning, Vientos fell into a 1-2 hole against Suárez but watched the next two pitches out of the zone, then fouled off two tough pitches before laying off a curveball to earn a walk.

While there isn’t an MVP award for the NLDS, Vientos would have run away with the honors. He went 9-for-16 with two homers, two doubles, and five RBIs, leading all players in extra-base hits during the series. His nine hits are a franchise record for a division series, with the previous record being seven by John Olerud (1999), Daniel Murphy (2015) and Curtis Granderson (2015). Vientos also tied the franchise record with his fourth straight multi-hit postseason game–only Todd Zeile (2000) and Daniel Murphy (2015) had previously done it.

Vientos led the series in win probability added by a wide margin with 0.94 (second highest in NLDS history) and championship win probability added with 9.05%. Francisco Lindor was second in both of those categories, with 0.48 and 5.58%, respectively.

Vientos had three of the series’ 10 most impactful hits by cWPA, with his game-tying homer against Matt Strahm checking in at fourth, his game-tying single against Jeff Hoffman in the series opener coming in at fifth, and his two-run homer against Cristopher Sánchez ranking eighth.

Vientos terrorized left-handed pitching in the regular season, and this postseason has been no different – he’s 7-for-9 against southpaws so far, including both of his home runs. In fact, it took until the eighth inning of Game 4 for a Phillies lefty to retire the 24-year-old. While it was once a debate whether or not Vientos should be in the majors, he’s proven he can perform under the bright lights of October and will stick on this team for the foreseeable future.

The post Vientos Sets Franchise Record for Hits in Division Series appeared first on Metsmerized Online.