MIAMI — Five games into the 2025 season, the vaunted Mets lineup isn’t exactly performing as expected. And while this might be the time of year where you hear the term “small sample size” often, five games is far too small of a sample size to draw any sweeping conclusions.
However, Mark Vientos is clearly frustrated with only two hits to start the year, as is evidenced by his performance in the Mets’ 4-2 loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night at LoanDepot Park.
With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning, Vientos hit a ground ball to third base and failed to run hard out of the box. Third baseman Grant Pauley bobbled the ball and Vientos was still thrown out, prompting a talk by shortstop Francisco Lindor and first base coach Antoan Richardson.
Vientos said it was “unacceptable.”
“It won’t happen again,” Vientos said Wednesday before the Mets concluded their second series of the season.
That was largely the message that Richardson and Lindor communicated to Vientos, who further showed his frustration after his final at-bat of the night.
Facing right-hander Anthoney Bender with two on and one out in the top of the ninth, Vientos went down 0-2 before swinging at a sweeper just off the inside of the plate. He didn’t hit it particularly hard and he hit it right at Griffin Conine in right field. SNY cameras caught the third baseman throwing his equipment when walking back into the dugout.
Vientos finished 0-for-4.
“I just wanted to come through in that situation,” he said. “I showed my frustration, and I probably should have never done that, too. But that’s just the way I am. I’m competing out there, I’m super focused, I want to win. Obviously, I’ve got to tame it down a little bit, but that’s just how I compete.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza also talked to Vientos, but felt it best to wait for the 25-year-old to calm down before having a longer conversation.
“You kind of give it a day, and then the next day, you talk to him, just making sure that mentally, he’s in a good place,” Mendoza said. “They’re human, they want to see results right away. It’s just understanding that it’s a long season here.”
Coming off of a breakout season, Vientos has been open about wanting to build on that without feeling pressure to follow up his 27-homer campaign. The Mets know Vientos is capable of meeting the moment, something he showed last fall with big hits in the postseason. Mendoza acknowledged that there is pressure on the entire team, but when it comes to Vientos, he doesn’t see a player who feels it.
“I don’t think pressure is a word for him, especially after what we saw in the playoffs,” Mendoza said recently. “Then, you could talk about pressure with the way it was applied. He handled it. Do we think he’s going to struggle? You know, everybody will struggle. So it’s just a matter of making those adjustments and continuing to fight through it.”
A Miami-area native who had plenty of friends and family in attendance this week, Vientos was eager to give them some wins to cheer for, but the Mets are 1-1 in the series and 2-3 to start the season. Aside from one big offensive game, the lineup has largely struggled to produce runs with a .125 average with runners in scoring position. Vientos is 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position with a walk and a strikeout, and 1-for-8 with runners on base. The Mets moved him down from fifth to sixth in the order Wednesday.
It’s not that Vientos feels that he needs to show everyone that last season wasn’t an aberration, it’s that he wants to contribute daily and he hasn’t been able to do it so far.
“I feel like I have a lot to prove,” Vientos recently told the Daily News. “I feel like I have a lot of high expectations for myself and I’m never satisfied. I think it’s like a blessing and a curse that I’m never happy with where I’m at.”
QUICK HITTERS
– Right-hander Frankie Montas was cleared to start throwing from 60 feet this week.
– Right-hander Tylor Megill will be the Mets’ starter Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays. It will be the third time Megill has started for the Mets either on Opening Day or in the home-opener, with the big righty starting the first game of the home slate two years ago.
– The Mets made two minor league signings Wednesday, inking first baseman Jon Singleton and infielder Niko Goodrum to contracts. They’re set to report to Triple-A Syracuse.
