Photo by Allen Greene Photography
The New York Mets drafted 17-year-old prep shortstop Mark Vientos with their second round pick in the 2017 draft, and so far the returns have been impressive.
Leading into the draft, Vientos was billed as one of the top prep bats available and ranked as the No. 40 prospect of the draft according to Baseball America.
The talented Vientos is listed at 6’4”, and while he’s played more games at shortstop (23) than third base (14) to begin his pro career, most believe he will shift to third full-time once he adds strength.
Vientos began his pro career in the Gulf Coast League for the Mets and initially struggled with a .209/.292/.314 with 25 strikeouts in 86 at-bats.
August has been a completely different story for the teenager from Pembroke Pines, Florida.
He was hitting .307/.340/.477 with six doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI in the month of August before he was promoted to the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League.
Since his promotion, he’s gone 5 for 17 with a walk, two doubles and has played all four games at shortstop. Vientos doesn’t turn 18-years-old until December and is currently 3.3 years younger than the average player in the Appy.
Here at MMO we had Vientos as our the Mets No. 10 prospect.
Mets Minors News and Notes
Peter Alonso is hitting .326/.399/.607 with 25 doubles and 16 home runs in 70 games since the Florida State League All-Star break. He’s gone 12 for 37 with six extra base hits since being promoted to Double-A.
Add Columbia Fireflies reliever Matt Blackham to list of power arms developing in the Mets system After missing 2016, he’s bounced back with 80 strikeouts in 55.2 innings. He has yet to allowed a home run this season and has given up only two in 105.1 pro innings. He throws in the mid-90’s with a strong knuckle-curve. Today he was named the SAL relief pitcher of the month for the second straight time. He hasn’t allowed an earned run since June 27th.
Brooklyn infielder Walter Rasquin showed off his speed in game one of the Cyclones doubleheader yesterday with two stolen bases that gave him 30 on the season and tied Angel Pagan‘s franchise record. In game two, he hit a walk-off homer. He currently leads the New York-Penn League with 21 doubles and his 30 stolen bases.
Gerson Bautista picked up his fourth save for the St. Lucie Mets last night on the back-end of his first time pitching on consecutive nights since joining the organization. The former Red Sox minor leaguer has 18 strikeouts and only three walks in 13.1 innings since being acquired.
The DSL Mets2 have split the first two games of the best-of-three playoff series.
