Mark Vientos, Brett Baty Showing Signs of Life

It’s been a rough start for two of the Mets’ young infielders fighting for a job.

Mark Vientos undoubtedly earned it last year. After struggles in parts of two big league seasons, he enjoyed a breakout campaign that made him a fixture in the middle of the lineup as the Mets’ third baseman. Brett Baty, meanwhile, continued to underwhelm in limited playing time.

But there’s always the question of regression after a player skyrockets to previously unfound heights. Vientos was brought back down to Earth in the early going of this season, while Baty wasn’t doing any better. The deeper their slumps got, the more that question marks and frustration understandably swirled in Mets fans’ minds: Would Baty ever become a good major league hitter? Was Vientos’ 2024 just a flash in the pan?

Well, as the 2025 season grows over three weeks old, both 25-year-olds are starting to provide some reasons to not write them off quite yet. Francisco Lindor‘s walk-off captured the headlines Friday night — and for good reason — but Vientos and Baty were both important pieces in getting the Mets to that spot in the first place.

The Mets have kept their faith in Vientos thus far. He’s still been the everyday third baseman, typically batting fifth in the order. And, slowly but surely, he’s begun to put some hits together after a 5-for-46 start. Vientos homered on Friday, shooting a fastball above the zone over the left-field wall at 102 mph off the bat. It came in a key moment for the Mets, tying the game at 3-3 in the sixth after the Cardinals had reclaimed the lead in the top half of the inning.

It was Vientos’ second straight game with a homer after hitting none in his first 17 games of the season. He also didn’t have a multi-hit game yet this year until Friday, when he later singled against former Met Phil Maton in the bottom of the eighth. He pulled a high-and-in sweeper to left field at 106.6 mph. It eventually led to the Mets scoring the go-ahead run on a Luis Torrens RBI double.

With that, Vientos has a six-game hitting streak going. The previous five had all been 1-for-4 performances. But Vientos is heating up, even showing the power now that hadn’t been there thus far. His slugging percentage has risen from .152 on April 11 to .314 now. His average sits at .171 with a .266 OBP.

Vientos isn’t all the way up the hill just yet. The overall numbers, while recently improved, are not at last year’s standards. His Baseball Savant metrics, for what they’re worth in a fairly small sample, are mostly unfavorable, especially in regards to hard-hit percentage and expected batting average.

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At the very least, Vientos is turning his April into something other than a total stinker, at least not entirely. It’s a long season, and Vientos is lessening the hole he’ll need to dig himself out of as the calendar turns to May.

Baty, meanwhile, has a five-game hitting streak going after reaching base multiple times on Friday. His streak started on April 12, the same day as Vientos’.

After a hot spring training, Baty was just 2-for-21 to start the season. But he now has a hit in six of his last seven games. He had his first multi-hit game on Wednesday in the series finale in Minnesota, then collected two hits in Thursday’s series opener against the Cardinals. He went 1-for-3 on Friday with the Mets’ third-hardest-hit ball of the night at 106.9 mph.

Also important was Baty finally drawing his first walk of the season. Coming into the game, he was batting .209 with his OBP also sitting right at .209. Last year, Baty walked 9.4% of the time, which is around league-average. The 2024 season was technically Baty’s best as a big leaguer in terms of rate stats, but his wRC+ was still below average at 83, and his ISO was below .100.

Like Vientos, he still has some way to climb, with his overall slash line sitting at .217/.234/.326. But any step in the right direction is a positive one right now for a Mets lineup that could use some extra punch towards the bottom. Baty also finds himself in a different sort of situation than Vientos, given that Vientos has already found some sustained success at the MLB level, while Baty is yet to put it all together.

But both young infielders — who aren’t exactly fresh out of the minor leagues anymore — got off to sluggish starts, and they’ve started to add some sparks for a 13-7 Mets squad.

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