Mark Vientos knows he’s running out of time to turn things around at the plate, but the Mets infielder isn’t panicking about his spring struggles.
With Opening Day closing in fast, Vientos is dealing with questions about his role and some rough at-bats. But he’s sticking to his approach instead of letting the pressure get to him.
“If I focus on the results right now, I’ll be a very stressed-out person. Right now, I’m focusing on hard contact, good ABs and that’s it.”
That’s the mentality he shared with Max Goodman of NJ.com, and it tells you everything about how he’s approaching this situation.
Vientos gets it. He’s been through this before.
“This isn’t anything new. Coming into the league, it was an earn your stripes type of situation — I earned them, I was playing every day. I feel like this year might be the same thing — it’s just earn at-bats and that’s fine, I’ll earn them, I’m ready.”
The confidence is there, which matters. But here’s the thing – opportunities won’t be guaranteed if he can’t start producing.
Vientos proved he belonged last season when given the chance. Now he’s back to fighting for playing time, and the early returns haven’t been encouraging. His spring numbers tell a story the Mets can’t ignore much longer.
What makes this interesting is his approach. Instead of overthinking every swing, he’s trusting the process that got him here. That’s easier said than done when you’re trying to secure a role on a team with playoff expectations.
The mentality is exactly what you want to hear from a player in his position. Whether it translates into the production he needs is another story entirely.
