Mets’ Defensive Woes Sticking Out More and More

During an SNY Mets broadcast this past week, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez discussed defensive metrics and how it could be fathomable that a team could rank poorly by one standard but well in another. Cohen recalled a conversation with Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, in which Cohen referenced that the Mets’ performance varied based on which metric one used. Instead of defending his team, which he could have done by cherry-picking the fitting stat, Stearns admitted he hopes the Mets can be better defensively. And after two vital defensive blunders in Sunday night’s game, improvement is a must.

The most crucial defensive miscue during the team’s Sunday night loss to the Yankees came from Pete Alonso. Alonso, who has always had issues throwing to bases, airmailed Francisco Alvarez at home, allowing the go-ahead runner to score.

But while that was the play that stood out, the player that is easiest to point to for their defensive deficiencies is third baseman Mark Vientos. No one was ever going to mistake Mark Vientos for Brooks Robinson.

Even when Vientos was arguably their best hitter in the 2024 postseason, he would routinely be subbed out late in games. And when Pete Alonso’s free agency was the main focal point of the offseason, the team’s supposed Plan B was to have Vientos move to first, in part to get a better defender at the hot corner.

In 2025, Vientos is in the third percentile in Fielding Run Value (negative four), according to Baseball Savant. His range is even lower, in the first percentile (negative six). Even his strong point, arm strength, is only in the 55th percentile (85.4 mph, around league average).

This level of defense would be palatable if he were hitting with the same level of consistency as last season. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Vientos is slashing .241/.303/.386, sitting in the 38th percentile of Batting Run Value (negative one run value). For comparison, Vientos’ BRV was in the 87th percentile in 2024 (20 run value).

While Vientos has faltered, Brett Baty has thrived in his time at third base. Baty made a few plays in Saturday’s win that were eerily similar to the ones Vientos has failed at. While Vientos has the worst OAA on the team, Baty ranks in the 71st percentile league-wide at one. He’s tied with Francisco Lindor and Luisangel Acuña on the team in outs above average. Tyrone Taylor leads the team in that category at three.

With Jessie Winker on the injured list, the Mets can have Baty take up his spot in the lineup against right-handed pitchers, play third, and move Vientos to the DH spot.

Unfortunately for New York, there is no obvious answer against lefties. Across his career, Baty has slashed .167/.212./.246 against left-handed pitching and has yet to record a hit this year. The only other viable third base option currently on the roster is Luisangel Acuña, who has cooled off significantly. Jeff McNeil is the next best thing, but hasn’t seen time at the hot corner since 2022; however, he has 251 innings at the position.

There are 115 games remaining in 2025. So there is plenty of time for players to assert themselves, whether it’s Vientos improving at either facet of the game, Baty proving he can hit lefties, Acuña proving he can hit in the big leagues, or someone like Starling Marte hitting so well that the DH position becomes more concrete.

Last year, we saw David Stearns and company make these decisions quickly. It will be fascinating to see if he does the same in 2025.

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