This is the second year where we are walking through the previous season’s Baseball America’s Top Prospect handbook, looking at the all the Mets to see how they are developing against Baseball America’s Projections.
One of the top prospects in the Mets system was (then) 19 year old Mark Vientos. Like many of the more exciting prospects in the Mets system, Vientos is young. the closest he has ever been to peers age wise was in 2018, where he was 2.3 years below the average age in Kingsport.
Vientos was the youngest player in the 2017 draft. Drafted as a short stop, he’s now a third basemen in a system starved at the hot corner (the only other ranked players in 2019 who spent significant time at third base in the minors was Will Toffey, #19, and William Lugo, #29). BA wrote “Vientos hits the ball hard consistently thansk to hand speed and bat speed that rank among the bet in the system.” In Kingsport, his timing at the plate was “disrupted” which gives BA some pause but say that his discipline will help his OBP. They ended his write up by saying that power is key, that he projects right now as a “second-division regular or better” and that he is on his way to spending a full season at A ball.
2017 Gulf Coast: 193 PA, 174 AB, .259/.316/.397
2018 Kingsport: 262 PA, 223 AB, .287/.389/.489
2019 Columbia: 454 PA, 416 AB, .255/.300/.411
So last year we saw a dip in his on base percentage and power, but we are comparing his first full season in A ball to a tremendous season in rookie ball. In a positive note, his OBP didn’t dip too much from his first season of rookie ball and his power got better, which will be the key to his success.
The Mets are not in a rush to develop him. At the major league level, there is a glut of players at the corners that extends from a glut of players in the outfield. By the time the contracts for the corner outfielders and “third basemen” shake out, Vientos will be ready. I’m assuming he’ll be in St. Lucie this year, even if he doesn’t start there.
