Huge Overreactions to the Mets’ First Week of 2025

The Mets ended their first week of baseball on a high note, winning a wild extra-inning contest against the Marlins to secure their first series win of the year. Through seven innings of Wednesday’s games, it looked like there were going to be a lot more downs than ups to talk about heading into the team’s home opener. With six games under their belt, it’s time to give some extreme overreactions to the season-opening road trip.

The Mets Have the Best Pitching Staff in the NL

There were a lot of questions surrounding the Mets’ pitching staff entering the season, specifically the starting rotation. How will Clay Holmes transition to being a starter? Can Griffin Canning turn his career around? Will Tylor Megill finally have a breakout year? Through their first turn through the rotation, the results have been strong. The rotation has a 2.90 ERA and hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any start. The bullpen, which was the team’s biggest weakness in 2024, has allowed just four earned runs in 22 innings. Overall, the staff’s 2.38 ERA ranks fourth in baseball behind only the Padres, Dodgers, and Rays.

Is this run of success sustainable? The bullpen is immensely talented and expected to be among the game’s best, but the rotation will be without Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas until late May at the earliest. So far, David Peterson is the only pitcher to complete six innings in a start, and Clay Holmes has yet to get through the fifth inning. Still, it’s hard not to be excited about these results.

Mark Vientos Should Head Back to Syracuse

2024 was a banner year for Mark Vientos. The 25-year-old crushed 27 homers during the regular season, then hit five more and posted a .998 OPS in the postseason. However, 2025 has gotten off to a disastrous start. He’s gone 2-for-24 and made a throwing error Wednesday that cost the Mets a run. He’s also made a couple of mental mistakes – he didn’t hustle on a ground ball that was bobbled by Graham Pauley on Tuesday and fielded a ball headed for foul territory that led to another Marlins run on Wednesday. Vientos was visibly frustrated after flying out in his final at-bat of Tuesday’s game.

While Vientos’ numbers may look ugly, not all is lost for him. He’s struck out only four times, and his walk rate is slightly higher than it was in 2024. Having a day off hopefully will allow Vientos to reset a little bit; there’s no way this sloppy play from his continues.

The Brett Baty Experiment Needs to End

Brett Baty had a scorching spring training and is receiving significant playing time at second base while Jeff McNeil is injured. Unfortunately, Baty is just 1-for-14 at the plate to start the season, and it looks like he’s headed for another trip back to the minor leagues once McNeil is healthy.

However, Baty’s underlying metrics are encouraging. He has a 50% hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity of 93.7 miles per hour. Additionally, his average bat speed of 76.4 MPH ranks in the majors’ 96th percentile. Baty is also beginning to look a little more comfortable at second base, which makes him a more useful player, even in a bench role. Fans may be frustrated with Baty’s performance, but it’s not time to give up on him yet.

Luis Torrens Should Be the Permanent Starting Catcher

The season couldn’t have started much better for Luis Torrens. At the plate, he’s 5-for-16 with a homer, and he kick-started the game-tying rally with a pinch-hit single on Wednesday. Defensively, he saved Wednesday’s game. In the eighth inning, he tagged out the potential go-ahead run despite an errant throw from Brett Baty, then caught Griffin Conine trying to steal second base two pitches later. So far, Torrens has thrown out three of four attempted base stealers.

As great as Torrens is playing right now, we saw a similar thing happen last year. He had a 1.167 OPS through his first 10 games but posted just a .531 OPS for the rest of the season. With Francisco Alvarez expected back in a few weeks, it’s hard to justify keeping Torrens in the starting role permanently. He can still provide a spark as Alvarez’s backup, though.

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