A sign the Mets have found their DH of the future in the bat of Mark Vientos

The New York Mets have been playing subpar baseball than they did earlier this season. However, there is one aspect that has stood out in recent weeks.

For the past few seasons, the Mets have needed a power bat capable of handling the designated hitter position and had not gotten it until this season when they signed J.D. Martinez. However, this signing was only temporary, leaving the team without options for the future, but Mark Vientos has shown that his bat is capable of generating enough noise to cope with the position.

Mark Vientos' bat has been explosive, and the metrics support it

Mark Vientos has been showing good approach at the plate with an increase in his contact while limiting the strikeouts allowed. Advanced metrics show that both, his contact and his power, are real, and this is due to two fundamental factors.

In the first instance, Vientos has improved his contact, especially in the inside of the strike zone, where he had not been successful in the past. According to Statcast's strike zone graphs, Vientos has an expected batting and slugging average that doubles his numbers from last year in the inside and upper part of the strike zone.

However, the factor that most draws Vientos' attention is his ability to generate power contact with the bat. Thanks to the new bat tracking metrics, we can evaluate the swing speed and the way of making contact with the bat of each player through a metric called Blasts. This metric describes the ideal contact between the speed with which the bat passes through the strike zone and the part of the bat where the ball is connected to produce the most power possible.

As a reference, the leaders in this type of contact in the league are Aaron Judge, William Contreras, Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, and Gunnar Henderson, among others. By observing these names, we can guarantee how robust this metric is to describe that power contact.

According to this Statcast metric, Vientos is not only number one among eligible players in the Mets organization but is number fourteen in the entire league among hitters with more than 100 accumulated swings. This shows that Vientos' natural way of swinging and hitting the ball is ideal for generating quality power in MLB.

With the data observed, the Mets must guarantee the number of at-bats for Mark Vientos due to Martinez's almost imminent departure towards the trade deadline. With the number of at-bats accumulated, Vientos will become even more accustomed to MLB pitching, guaranteeing the organization a future designated hitter for the years to come.