Since being called up from Triple-A Syracuse less than three weeks ago, Marcos Vientos rewarded the Mets‘for your faith and for your manager Carlos Mendoza every reason to keep guarding him at third base every game.
On Monday night in Washington, Vientos added his fifth home run of the season, and fourth in his last 13 games, as part of a 2-for-3 day with two walks in the Mets 8-7 win over Nationals.
For your businessman, the positive points are evident.
“Conviction, punctual, ready to take shots in the attacking zone. Don’t try to do too much, because when he’s close to the ball and puts his barrel on that baseball, the impact is real,” he said Monday.
“Not chasing [in his third at-bat with runners on second and third] he got up 3-0 by stopping some difficult shots and ended up walking, so he’s thinking small in this situation, not trying to do too much,” Mendoza continued. “And the way he controls the strike zone is pretty impressive.”
The 24-year-old, who has seen his OPS rise to 1.070 in 66 games this campaign, said improving his discipline and hitting pitches in the zone was one of his “main focuses” last offseason.
“I definitely think I can still improve on this, but you have to take it day by day, keep practicing,” he said.
“It starts at [batting] cage and taking it very seriously, even with somersaults,” Vientos continued. “No matter how easy it is, sometimes we take away and attack anything we [they’re] playing. And if a guy throws the ball at 32 km/h, imagine a guy [throwing it] 90-something in the game. I take it to heart as soon as I step into the cage and tell myself to attack and hit what you want.
Vientos said he takes that mindset to each of the steps of the batting practice process and hitting a pitching machine to “increase the difficulty.”
Contributions from unexpected places
In Monday’s win, in addition to Vientos’ solid night, the Mets got three hits and an RBI from the recently added José Iglesias and a big double-out, two RBI double from Louis Torrens.
“Very encouraging, guys will continue to have opportunities,” Mendoza said. “We have a very good group there, they continue to work and it’s good to see Vientos, it’s good to see Iglesias, Louis with another good game.
“But yes, everyone will contribute. It’s going to take a lot of people to continue to get wins and hopefully be successful here.”
Iglesias, who is getting his first chance to return to the majors after not appearing last year, sees ways he can contribute to the win in a variety of ways.
“There are so many ways to contribute to a team, not necessarily with the stick or the defense, it’s the energy and continuing to push your teammates and supporting them,” he said. “It’s also a question of vibration. It’s a long season, we will fail, we will succeed. We have to stay positive and keep working every day. That’s all we can control.”
Vientos, who had his locker next to Iglesias in spring training, couldn’t help but smile as he talked about how “excited” the veteran was to be back in the big leagues and what he did to help him grow as a player.
“I have to give him a lot of credit. When I was at Syracuse, he was one of the mentors, the guy who was by my side, helping me along the way.
“The guy did his best in 13 years in the league, he knows the game, he knows what it takes to be a great player in the league for 10 years. So, honestly, every time he speaks I’m alert.”
The best advice Vientos received from Iglesias: “Trust. Trust your ability. That was one of the things he preached to me. He was like, ‘You got it right, now go out there and be you.’”
Tylor Megill struggles with command issues
In front of Tylor MegillAt the start of the game on Monday, his manager laid out a fairly simple recipe for his success over his last two starts, which has seen him strike out 16 batters while allowing two earned runs in 12 innings.
“Staying ahead of the hitters, staying on offense, using all your pitches,” Mendoza said before the game. “I thought it was better against left-handers, the division is becoming a very good move for him. And the combination of the fleece, the fluffier, the split, makes him a tough hitter.
“But it starts with moving forward and staying attacking, that’s the most important thing and we’ve seen that in the last few games for him.”
On the night, Megill failed to get a first-pitch strike to eight of the first 12 batters he faced and fell behind 2-0 to five of those batters.
“He fought today, you know,” Mendoza said. “He got behind the hitters, didn’t hit strike one the way he wanted, we want. It was a struggle for him. The command of his pitches made him work. I had to fight through five innings.”
Megill lasted just 5.0 innings at Washington, surrendering five runs (four earned) on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts on just 49 hits on 87 pitches.
“It’s not great,” Megill said when asked to evaluate his start. “They threw a lot of pitches, fell behind in the fourth and fifth early counts and gave them a good lead for some hit pitches.
“I threw a lot of good pitches that got hits and then I threw a few, too, that weren’t so good that got hits.”
Megill led off four of the six batters he faced in the fourth, but was stung for three runs, two of which came on a Joey Gallo home run to right. He was less successful in the fifth when he walked consecutive batters to force in a run.
“It’s just one of those starts where the command isn’t there and you’re just trying to get going, make quality shots,” Megill said. “Obviously, falling behind 2-0 is not a good thing, so you’re trying to be accurate still where you’re hitting the zone because they’re swinging. I just need to stay ahead of the hitters and not fall behind and make my life difficult.”
The right-hander struck out just eight of the 25 batters he faced, but managed to hand over the lead to the bullpen.
Megill said he just needed to “execute a little better” and throw his off-speed pitches in the zone for “good quality pitches.”
“It looked like the stuff was there, but obviously at the start of the fourth and fifth it wasn’t in the turn, it was falling behind and it was taking off,” he said. “Also, I felt like I still attacked hitters, they put the ball in play and that’s what they do.
“… I just need to be a little better in the bigger moments, I need to be better at execution.”
