WASHINGTON — Mark Vientos is trying to keep it real.
He’s swinging at strikes and hitting the ball with authority as the most productive hitter in the Mets lineup lately, but the 24-year-old third baseman realizes the journey has just begun.
“I’m not trying to be Juan Soto at this very moment,” Vientos said Tuesday, referring to the All-Star outfielder’s elite plate discipline. “I feel like little by little I have been improving in that aspect and I could say a couple of years from now you are going to see an even bigger difference from now. I’m not trying to be a freakin’ Hall of Fame player right now. I just want to be true to myself.”
Vientos entered play with a .339/.409/.661 slash line with five homers and 10 RBIs in 66 plate appearances.
Notably, his strikeout rate had dropped to 19.7 percent, after he struck out last year in 30.5 percent of his plate appearances.
Vientos’ walk rate had also increased to 10.6 percent.
Last year he walked 4.3 percent of the time.
Though Vientos homered on Monday, his most impressive plate appearance might have been the one that followed and resulted in a walk, according to hitting coach Eric Chavez.
A player with less plate discipline might have been chasing another homer, but Vientos had the gumption to stay in the strike zone and contribute to a rally by drawing the walk with runners on second and third.
“It’s almost like he knew he wasn’t going to get anything to hit,” Chavez said. “That is the first time I have seen him in that state and I talk to him a lot about controlling his aggressive over-swings and understanding pitchers aren’t just going to give him heaters.
“Mark asks a lot of questions in our team meetings. He wants to get better and he’s taking it all in, but during the game he’s just competing. There is an intensity about him that has always been there and I think before it was out of control and now he’s got it under control.”
Vientos said he was just trusting his instincts during the sixth-inning plate appearance against MacKenzie Gore that resulted in the walk.
“He was giving me with his eyes that he didn’t want to throw to me that at-bat,” Vientos said. “I was just trusting my instincts and I feel when you do that you should be good, no matter what.”
It’s helped that beginning with his recall from Triple-A Syracuse three weeks ago Vientos has understood there would be opportunities for him to play.
At first he was sharing third base, but Brett Baty was optioned to Syracuse on Friday, leaving the position to Vientos.
In his limited time with the club last year, Vientos was on the bench for long stretches and felt pressure to produce when he received opportunities.
“Now it’s a great feeling for sure, but I kind of learned from last year — putting pressure on yourself to perform is not a key to success,” Vientos said. “It’s just going out there and saying, ‘This is what I’m going to do and I am going to stick to it the whole game and whether it fails or I succeed I’m OK with it and I can go home and go to sleep and be happy.’ ”
The disappointment of returning to the minor leagues following previous call-ups from the Mets has toughened Vientos, according to Chavez.
“Those moments either make you or break you and I know that bothered him,” Chavez said. “There’s been a few times he has gotten the short stick and you learn this as a young player: this is a business first. This is not about emotions or hurting people’s feelings, it’s about making the best decisions you can for the organization, … I couldn’t be more proud of him because I know how emotional he was over those moves and how much it hurt him.”
