Mark Vientos continues to impress together with his bat — his future as a 3rd baseman stays unclear.
Again hitting second within the lineup a day after homering twice from the spot, Vientos has proved himself to be greater than succesful offensively, however when requested concerning the crew’s “long-term” state of affairs at third base, president of baseball operations David Stearns wasn’t able to anoint Vientos for the everlasting spot.
“Mark has finished a really good job solidifying himself as a significant league participant,” Stearns stated Friday in regard to 3rd base past this season. “He’s improved defensively to the purpose we’re operating him on the market often at third base. He deserves a number of credit score for that. For now, I’m centered on this yr. Within the offseason, we’ll consider future years.”
After taking on for Brett Baty at third in mid-Might, Vientos has been as productive as anybody within the lineup.
He went 1-for-3 with a run scored in Friday’s 7-3 win over the Marlins.
He leads the crew in OPS and OPS-plus and Carlos Mendoza has been impressed sufficient to maneuver him to the highest a part of the lineup the previous two video games after hitting Vientos fifth, sixth and seventh for a lot of the season.
“What has continued to be nice to see from Mark is the changes he’s in a position to make by way of the season on each side of the ball,” Stearns stated. “He went to Triple-A with an emphasis on protection and now he understands how main league pitchers assault him. Mark continues to be a really younger participant. He’s not going to be excellent. We don’t count on him to be excellent.”
To that finish, whereas Vientos has been serviceable at third base, the superior metrics nonetheless aren’t good.
Based on Fangraphs, of the 20 gamers which have performed no less than 550 innings at third base this season, nobody has a worse defensive runs saved ranking than Vientos’ minus-6 and Statcast has him twentieth out of 24 ranked third basemen by way of Fielding Runs Worth.
One NL scout who has watched Vientos at third this yr and final season stated, “He’s made some strides there and his offense makes up for among the deficiencies, however there are undoubtedly issues. He simply doesn’t transfer properly.”
The participant he changed at third, Baty, is working at second base — in addition to third — at Triple-A Syracuse.
Stearns stated the group has preferred what it has seen from Baty at second and now contemplate him a multi-position participant.
However Baty’s woes on the plate have surfaced within the minors, the place he has a .574 OPS and 23 strikeouts in his earlier 80 plate appearances.
And his droop goes again farther than that, with a .668 OPS in 36 video games since June 29.
