Photo: Peter McClelland

Major League Baseball is currently in a lockout, I’m freezing my ass off (-1o when I woke up this morning), and there’s still a few days until the NFL playoffs get back underway, so let’s watch (and listen) one of the Mets top prospects hit baseballs.

Like I said, listen. What a beautiful sound. Pretty good looking swing as well for Mark Vientos.

Vientos, turned 22 in December, led all Mets minor league players in 2021 with 25 home runs. He hit 25 bombs in only 310 at-bats between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, at only 21-years old.

For the season, Vientos slashed .281/.352/.581 with 18 doubles, 25 home runs, and 63 RBIs in 81 games. Small sample size of only 11 games, but the former second round pick was even better in Triple-A with a 159 wRC+ compared to 144 wRC+ in Double-A. The 144 wRC+ ranked fourth in the Double-A Northeast League right behind two of the top prospects in baseball, Adley Rutschman and Riley Greene at 145 wRC+ and ahead of Red Sox prospect Triston Casas (142 wRC+).

I talked to a couple of folks in the Mets front office about Vientos and they all raved about his power. They also shared (exit velo info is not public) that Vientos posted exit velocity numbers in Double-A slightly above what Mets slugger Pete Alonso did at the same level.

Vientos split his time defensively in 2021 between third base (50 games), first base (11 games), and left field (13 games). Vientos was noticeably more agile defensively to me this year, though he still looked below average defensively at third, and the left field work was more about flexibility than an actual viable option.

I had the talented slugger as my No. 4 prospect on the recently updated Top 50 Mets prospects, and Baseball America said he was one of the best 15 prospects that missed their Top 100 list.

Vientos was added to the Mets 40-man roster earlier this offseason, so there’s a chance that we see him make his Major League Baseball debut at some point in 2022.