How the offseason additions affect Mark Vientos' big league debut

Mark Vientos did a ton to increase his chances of making the New York Mets roster at some point in 2022. That hasn’t changed. He should continue to knock on the big league door all year until the team can no longer ignore the pounding.

What remains unclear is exactly what role he’ll have in the big leagues. He has since moved from playing third base to getting some time out in left field. With the way the Mets are aligned to open the 2022 season right now, Vientos appears blocked at both positions.

Predicting when the Mets promote Mark Vientos to the major league roster

Vientos must continue to hit in the minor leagues to get his big league promotion. If he holds up that end of the bargain, he’ll remain on the club’s radar for a mid-year call-up.

But exactly what situation would warrant this? The Mets would be unwise to promote any player of his abilities to the major league roster to simply sit on the bench, lose momentum, and go cold. Vientos, and any young prospect for that matter, should only get promoted if they are able to receive regular playing time.

Because of this, Vientos is probably going to follow the Michael Conforto route to the major leagues.

Back in 2015, veteran left fielder Michael Cuddyer went down with an injury. To fill his roster spot, the Mets called up Conforto to the major leagues. Conforto would take at-bats away from Cuddyer down the stretch as he was far more flexible to playing different outfield positions and more importantly, hitting better.

Vientos could give the Mets regular at-bats at either of the two positions he seems destined to play at the major league level when he does arrive: third base or left field. The strong possibility of a DH also in play, it’s not so ridiculous to see him arrive to the show and focus exclusively on that part of his game. Regardless of how he plays defensively, Vientos should be an option for the Mets to turn to in their time of need.

The other way Mark Vientos makes it to the Mets

Aside from an injury, there is one other way Vientos can crack the Mets roster. Let’s say we get a repeat of 2021. The offense is scuffling. Nobody can knock runners in.

Meanwhile, Vientos is torching Triple-A pitchers. They’re considering a career change. It doesn’t matter how many pairs of Susan Sarandon’s underwear they put on. They just can’t get Vientos out.

When a highly-regarded prospect gets called up midseason, it’s usually out of need or an inability to ignore what he is doing on the farm. Vientos can put himself in a position where the Mets have no choice but to find him major league at-bats.

He wouldn’t have to play every day either. As long as he is getting regular opportunities to hit and break the team out of a slump, Vientos could be a guy we see promoted mid-year to wake the rest of the team up.

For sure, this won’t take place until after the point comes when the Mets can keep those seven years of big league control on him—current CBA negotiations pending. Vientos isn’t the kind of player you want to throw away a year on just to get him onto the big league roster. The plan isn’t to have him in the majors just yet. Only 43 plate appearances at Triple-A under his belt, it’s far more important to see what he can do in his next 143 opportunities before rushing him too quickly.