It’s been less than 48 hours since the Mets announced their signing of J.D. Martinez, which seemed to end the discussion for Mark Vientos to be the Mets’ opening-day designated hitter. Still, even with the news breaking, the 24-year-old seemed locked in at the plate against the Yankees.

On Friday afternoon, Vientos hit an opposite-field homer against Luis Gil. The blast drove in two of the Mets’ three RBIs on the day, and came against a 96-mile-per-hour fastball.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metmerized

While Vientos clubbed his team-leading fifth homer in the afternoon game, he was instead asked after the game if it was hard for him to accept the J.D. Martinez signing. His response was textbook.

“To be honest with you, no, not really.”

Vientos also called the Martinez signing, “a good pickup for the team,” and did not make any other comment. Of course, there’s not much to say, but in the face of the media, Vientos again said the correct things.

Hopefully for the young Vientos, he can continue to handle the situation appropriately, despite being relegated to a bench role for the upcoming season, where he will most likely begin the season.

Brandon Nimmo spoke on Vientos’s maturity and reiterated what it feels like to be in those shoes, having been that guy when he first broke into the league at 23 years old.

“He hit another home run today, and I’m really happy to see the strides he’s making,” said Nimmo, who reiterated that the signing of a player doesn’t mean you’re any less a part of the team.

“I’ve been in his shoes, and you have to accept the challenges that come your way. And you have to keep grinding because you never know what’s going to happen in this game. This is a long season… There’s going to be plenty of opportunities along the way.”

Nimmo said that a young player like Vientos needs to use this time to attack weaknesses, work on strengths, and keep trying to strive to get better every day. He also stated he would tell Vientos that nothing had changed for him.

“You still gotta work, you’re still going to need to try to get the most out of yourself. Even in the big leagues, the work never stops.”

Carlos Mendoza also praised Vientos’ performance, especially under the circumstances.

“As long as you keep doing what you can control and let the people who have to make the decisions make the decisions, then everything will be ok,” said Mendoza. “Sometimes there’s not the news you want to hear, but that’s the business. I thought for him to go out there and have that type of game and put a good swing on a fastball like that, it was good to see,” stated Mendoza.

Through the 2024 spring season, Vientos is now batting .222/.250/.537, with a .787 OPS. He has two doubles, a team-leading five home runs, eight RBIs, and two walks, with 10 runs scored.

As Nimmo reiterated in his interview with SNY, no decisions have been made yet, but it is possible Vientos could lose his roster spot with the Mets to the veteran Martinez. However, it’s more likely Vientos will stay in the majors this season, as he slashed .306/.387/.612 with 16 homers in 61 games in Syracuse last season.