3 Mets players not named Jose Iglesias who have been important firecrackers

2) Mark Vientos

Remember when the Mets sent Mark Vientos down to the minor leagues to begin the season? He learned a thing or two down there. Vientos has been without a doubt one of the most consistent hitters for the team.

He hit .429 in April, .310 in May, .265 in June, and .283 in July. It was the latter two months when he received the bulk of his playing time. He drove in 17 runs in both months with 7 and 6 home runs respectively. As far as consistency goes, he was right there with a .554 slugging percentage in both June and July.

Rough patches will come. He’s in the closest thing to one right now as are several of his Mets teammates. Shutout in back-to-back games against the Seattle Mariners, his August has started off with a prolonged slump.

On the positive side, Vientos is still making contact. He hasn’t struck out since the Sunday finale versus the Los Angeles Angels. A big part of his improvement this year has involved dropping his strikeout rate from 30.5% down to 25.1%.

He goes into the last game of this endless road trip hitting .270/.324/.536 with 17 home runs and 44 RBI. Let’s explode one last time before returning to Citi Field.