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Perhaps Mark Vientos is breaking out.
Perhaps Vientos is staking his claim as the Mets’ bona fide third baseman.
Perhaps Vientos is en route to fulfilling his promising potential and high expectations bestowed upon him.
Or perhaps not.
But it’s a start, and the 24-year-old is beginning to stack encouraging performances together.
Vientos was the only bright spot during the Mets’ 10-5 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, smacking a solo home run in the fifth inning and adding an infield single in the ninth.
It came one day after his best showing of the season when he went 3-for-5 with two RBIs during the Mets’ 10-9 win over Arizona on Friday night.
The timing is notable.
Vientos had been in a competition with fellow highly-ranked prospect — and his good friend — Brett Baty for the starting job at third base.
Baty won that battle in spring training, and Vientos subsequently started the season in Triple-A.
Vientos had a brief three-game stint in the majors at the end of April when Starling Marte was on the bereavement list, then Vientos was sent back down when Marte returned despite going 3-for-7 with a homer.
But Baty’s prolonged struggles prompted Vientos to be called up again last month, and he and Baty platooned at third base for about two weeks.
Baty’s struggles worsened, and he was sent down to Triple-A on Friday.
Vientos now has a major chance to prove himself. For the moment, the third-base job is his.
He’s hitting .340/.386/.642 with a 1.028 OPS for the season, though it’s a small sample size with just 57 plate appearances.
Vientos displayed one of his biggest flaws in the field, however, and would have deserved an error if not for Pete Alonso. In the sixth inning, he bounced a throw to first base on a grounder by Eugenio Suarez, but Alonso made an acrobatic play to scoop it while staying on the bag for the out.
On a dreary afternoon that spoiled the good feelings surrounding Darryl Strawberry’s jersey retirement, at least Vientos provided a bit of optimism for the future.
