Mark Vientos DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Slumping New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos will retreat to the bench for Wednesday's series finale against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Brett Baty will take over at third base and will bat eighth against Twins right-hander David Festa. This will be Vientos' first day off of the season. After a breakout 2024 season in which he hit .266/.322/.516 with an .837 OPS, 27 home runs and 71 RBI in 111 games played, the 25-year-old has started off cold in 2025, going 9-for-62 (.145) with no home runs, four doubles, four RBI, nine walks and 14 strikeouts in 17 games. It will be more concerning if his slow start to the year drags into May, but hopefully this day off will get Vientos right. Baty hasn't been any better, going 5-for-36 (.139) with no homers and just one RBI early on for the Mets. The former first-rounder has never faced Festa in his career.

New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos is just 4-for-35 (.114) in his first 10 games this season and is still searching for his first home run of the 2025 regular season. Two of those four hits have been doubles, and the 25-year-old is staying patient at the plate, as evidenced by his three walks in Monday's win over the Marlins. Vientos has hit fifth or sixth in the Mets' batting order and started each of the team's 10 games. He's still locked into an everyday role, but he has just a 29.6% hard-hit rate this season, according to Statcast, which is a big decline from his 46.6% hard-hit rate last year. It's still early, for sure, but Vientos needs to rediscover his power swing to deliver on his huge fantasy potential.

New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos will stick at the hot corner for the Mets in 2025 after the team re-signed first baseman Pete Alonso on Wednesday night. Before the move to reunite with Alonso, Vientos was set to slide across the diamond to serve as New York's primary first baseman. The return of Alonso will now push Luisangel Acuna and Brett Baty either to the bench or to the minors to start the season. Vientos won the third base gig last year with a breakout season in which he slashed .266/.322/.516 with an .837 OPS, 27 home runs, 71 RBI and 58 runs scored in 111 games played. MLB.com's Anthony DiComo has Vientos projected to hit fifth in the batting order behind a strong top of the lineup for the Mets. He should have elite RBI opportunities with the addition of superstar outfielder Juan Soto. RotoBaller has Vientos in the fourth tier of fantasy third baseman as the No. 7 option.

Now that the New York Mets aren't expecting to re-sign first baseman Pete Alonso, their current plan is to shift Mark Vientos across the diamond from third base to first and have young infielders Luisangel Acuna, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio (knee) compete for playing time at the hot corner. Vientos broke out in 2024 as the Mets' starting third baseman to the tune of a .266/.322/.516 slash line with 27 home runs in 111 regular-season games. The 25-year-old continued to swing a hot bat in the postseason in October and cleared the fences five more times before the Mets fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. However, his defense at third wasn't the greatest, so moving him across the diamond should help the team's overall infield defense. The former second-rounder hits the ball hard but also strikeouts out at a high rate, giving him plenty of volatility for an encore in 2025.

New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos did his best to keep his team alive in the postseason, hitting a two-run homer in a 10-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS. Unfortunately, Vientos couldn't do it all himself, and the Mets were eliminated from the playoffs. The 24-year-old was a shining star all postseason, hitting .327 with a .998 OPS while smacking five homers and driving in 14 runs over 55 at-bats. If nothing else, the Mets have found their third baseman of the future.