Why the Mets won’t be calling up Mark Vientos quite yet even if they need a bat

The ailing New York Mets played without Pete Alonso and Starling Marte on Wednesday. Both got hurt early in Tuesday’s game against the San Diego Padres. While Mets fans held their breath all day long, they received some good news a few hours before game time.

An obvious player to replace either one—but more so Alonso—might have been Mark Vientos. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t perfect for such a move to even occur. Vientos landed on the IL down in Triple-A last week. While it doesn’t appear to be anything major, it does mean one of the best prospects the club has will have to wait for his major league debut.

The Mets probably wouldn’t have called up Mark Vientos anyway

Before landing on the IL, Vientos was batting .250/.336/.471 with 7 home runs and 22 RBI in 155 plate appearances. It was a steady enough start one level below the big leagues.

Of course, his performance last year probably raised the stakes for many fans to expect a whole lot more. He wasn’t putting up numbers begging for a major league promotion. He also didn’t do anything to have anyone concerned that maybe he had reached his peak.

Vientos was doing everything right this year. In relation to a promotion, the Mets just don’t have as much of a need for him.

J.D. Davis got the start at first base over Alonso on Wednesday. Mark Canha went into right field to replace Marte with Jeff McNeil shifting from second base into left field. At second base, Luis Guillorme got another start. Finally, Buck Showalter put Nick Plummer in the DH role to complete the order.

Plummer is a much more versatile player for the Mets from a defensive standpoint and has already gotten some big hits out of the way. There is no telling what Vientos could provide to them. Likely, if he did make it onto the big league roster, he wouldn’t do much more than DH. It wouldn’t be a bad decision—if he was healthy. It’s just not a necessary one with how good many of the other options have been.

Occam’s razor won’t make an appearance for this roster decision. The Mets don’t have too many choices at all. Fortunately, it looks like they have no decision to make at all.