Two weeks ago, it looked like the Mets were set to hand the designated hitter reigns to Mark Vientos and let him run with them. While that still may be true, the Mets aren’t merely handing him 500 plate appearances—he’ll have to earn them in spring training. Over the last five days, the Mets have […]
The post Spring Training Position Battle: DH Gets More Competitive appeared first on Metsmerized Online.
Two weeks ago, it looked like the Mets were set to hand the designated hitter reigns to Mark Vientos and let him run with them. While that still may be true, the Mets aren’t merely handing him 500 plate appearances—he’ll have to earn them in spring training.
Over the last five days, the Mets have signed Ji-Man Choi and Luke Voit to contracts, adding competition to the position that includes Vientos and DJ Stewart. On top of that, the Mets will reportedly look into getting Starling Marte DH at-bats this year, and Pete Alonso has averaged 75 plate appearances a year at DH over the last two seasons.
Mark Vientos, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
All of a sudden, the position has become pretty saturated.
Let’s take a quick look at the main four players battling it out for DH at-bats:
All four will increase their chances of making the Opening Day roster by showing value in the field. This is where Vientos could have a leg up, given he’s the youngest of all four and, presumably, his offseason work at third base could start to show improvements on defense.
Mets spring training starts on Saturday, and all four will likely get ample playing time to state their case for making the MLB team out of spring.
The post Spring Training Position Battle: DH Gets More Competitive appeared first on Metsmerized Online.