There has not been a bigger Mets emergence this season than Mark Vientos.
In a year in which so many top prospects have failed to hit — in the opposing dugout, Jackson Holliday’s average slipped to .181 — Vientos blasted his 20th home run, becoming just the seventh Met age 24 or younger to do so.
The 24-year-old first established he could hit big-league pitching, then showed he could play a serviceable third base and has now begun to assert himself as not just a useful player but a big bat that is hitting second in the order.
“A lot,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, when asked before Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Orioles at Citi Field about how Vientos has impressed him most. “A little bit of everything.”
Vientos impressed a little bit more on a 2-for-4 afternoon in which his fifth-inning single extended his career-long hitting streak to nine games.
His big blast arrived in the seventh, when he got a middle-of-the-plate fastball from Craig Kimbrel and blasted it over the center-field wall to give the Mets a temporary one-run edge.
The only Mets as young to hit as many dingers were Darryl Strawberry (1983-86), David Wright (2005-07), John Milner (1973-74), Michael Conforto (2017), Pete Alonso (2019) and Francisco Alvarez (2023).
Vientos’ power to all fields was well known as he climbed through the team’s system.
His ability to play a major league third base — his glove flashed in the sixth inning, when he fielded a roller behind the bag and made a strong, off-balance throw across the diamond to nab Ramon Urias and briefly extend a perfect-game bid from Sean Manaea — has especially stood out to his manager.
“We can talk about his offense and his ability to make adjustments, but honestly the defensive side of things [has been most impressive],” Mendoza said of Vientos, whose OPS is up to .894. “He’s been steady there, making routine plays and being engaged and making adjustments and just the feel for the game. And not only with making good plays but knowing what to do with the baseball, knowing the situation, positioning.
“He’s done a really good job.”
Against another opposing lefty, Jeff McNeil was out of the starting lineup for a third time in four games.
Mendoza again declined to call it a strict platoon at second base between the lefty-hitting McNeil and the righty-hitting Jose Iglesias, but that’s what the timeshare has amounted to.
“We’re scheduled to face a lot of righties coming up here,” Mendoza said. “Just trying to get Iglesias in there and use the matchups.”
After throwing a scoreless, 12-pitch inning Tuesday with Triple-A Syracuse, Dedniel Nunez was expected to arrive at Citi Field and chat with the staff.
“We got to wait and see how he’s feeling and we’ll go from there,” Mendoza said of the righty, whose activation from a right pronator strain appears imminent.
Sean Reid-Foley, who was shut down from throwing after a rehab assignment that was not going well, is still not throwing.
The righty, who originally went down with a right shoulder impingement, is working with trainers to “get that shoulder more stable,” Mendoza said. There is no timetable for when he will begin ramping up again.
Top prospect Jett Williams, who had not played in four months because he required surgery on his right wrist, began a rehab assignment with Low-A St. Lucie and went 1-for-3 with a steal.
The infielder played in just 11 games with Double-A Binghamton in April before the wrist sidelined him.