It was a fun-filled week for the Mets. Underdog wins, walk-off home runs, and the Mets are winning in style. They are facing some important, tough competition and are rising to the challenge. The bats are coming back to life. One player who remained consistent for the games from August 17 to August 25 was Mark Vientos. Vientos slashed .289/.308/.526 with a .834 OPS for last week’s games. This week’s Statistical Spotlight features Mark Vientos and his plate approach.
Mark Vientos has been hitting the ball and has been hitting the ball hard. Below is a graph depicting Vientos’s hits with their respective exit velocities. Last week, he recorded eight hits with an exit velocity higher than 100 mph. The hardest hit ball put into play was a scorching 109.2 mph line drive off a four-seam fastball that resulted in a single. His home run against the Orioles on Wednesday clocked in at 107 mph. According to Baseball Savant, Vientos’ average bat speed is 72.3 mph, making him the fourth fastest Met for average bat speed behind Alonso, Nimmo, and Martinez.
While Vientos has been smoking the ball, he has been struggling to elevate the ball over this stretch. As can be seen from the graph above, many of his hits did not travel a far distance. Most of his hits were ground balls or line drives. He recorded four ground ball singles, and one of his three doubles was a screaming ground ball off the left side of the infield.
Vientos has been a pleasant surprise for the 2024 Mets season and has been one of the most consistent Mets players outside of Lindor for the entire season thus far. He continues to make contact and put the ball into play and has successfully used the entire field. When Vientos can elevate the ball, he can do even more damage, often resulting in extra-base hits. The change to the two-hole may pay off greatly for the Mets, as Vientos can see more at-bats in this position.
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