How upstart Mark Vientos added a “personal” chapter to the Mets’ magical story

LOS ANGELES — After the Dodgers intentionally walked Francisco Lindor in the second inning Monday afternoon, the 24-year-old standing behind the Mets' MVP candidate looked confused. Mark Vientos lifted his sunglasses and cocked his head to the side, almost in disbelief that they were trying to throw in front of him.

“I took it personally,” Vientos said after opening the Mets’ second grand slam of the postseason with a 7-3 victory that tied the National League Championship Series at one game apiece.

If the Dodgers didn't know much at the beginning of this year about the Mets' third baseman, who was already 10 games into his 2024 season when these teams last met in the regular season, they know it now.

“I mean, I want to be on top during this fight,” Vientos continued. “I want you to accompany Lindor in this situation and take me there.”

Vientos, now a fixture at the top of the Mets lineup, wasn't even the most likely 24-year-old to earn his team's job at the hot corner this year. The 2017 second-round pick's season began at Syracuse and he posted a .610 OPS in two big league seasons beginning this year.

But this version of Vientos making the Dodgers pay for the free pass is nothing like previous iterations.

“My husband has great confidence,” Sean Manaea said. “I love that.”

Why shouldn't he?

On Monday, Vientos' attack gave the Mets starter an early 6-0 lead, giving him plenty of room to pitch throughout his five innings.

“Since he got here,” Manaea continued, “he's done some crazy things.”

At the start of the season, Brett Baty was the Mets' starting third baseman. But the former top young player's travails opened a door and Vientos, recalled on May 15, stepped through with a giant leap. When Baty was optioned on May 31, it was clear that the full-time third base job belonged to Vientos, who never looked back.

While his name may not carry the same weight or prestige as perennial third base sensations like Manny Machado or Alex Bregman, Vientos finished the season with a higher wRC+ than both. In fact, among MLB third basemen with at least 400 plate appearances this season, José Ramírez and Rafael Devers were the only ones with a higher OPS than Vientos.

“The power is real,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

It is no coincidence that his rise coincided with that of his team.

From the time Vientos was drafted through the end of the year, New York was one of three teams to achieve 70 wins. His steady rise in both the Mets' production and lineup — he went from hitting in the bottom half of the order in June to hitting behind Lindor in September — helped turn around a team that was 11th in early June Games were under .500.

In the regular season games Vientos started this year, the Mets were 61-44. In games he didn't play, the score was 28-29.

“He takes advantage of every opportunity and enjoys the ride,” Lindor said. “One thing Mark doesn’t lack is confidence.”

Lindor is the only Mets player worth more WAR than Vientos. Both had exactly 26 home runs from Vientos' promotion in mid-May to the end of the year.

Now both have capitalized on the team's magical run in October.

For Lindor, there was the game-winning ninth-inning home run he launched against the rival Braves to get them into the playoffs and the go-ahead grand slam in Philadelphia that would send the Mets through the NLDS to face the Dodgers to compete.

When the Mets seemed to forget who they were in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, getting blanked for the first time this postseason and looking uncompetitive, Lindor got them going in Monday's matinee with a leadoff home run that knocked out the Dodgers. back to regular seasons' postseason record streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 33.

So you can't blame them for giving Lindor a free base with two ons, two outs and a bullpen game that threatens to quickly get out of hand.

Unless, of course, you're Vientos.

“You would rather take a chance on me than him,” Vientos said. “But I use it as motivation. I say, 'Okay, if you want me up, I'll show you.'”

In a postseason field full of decorated stars, that confidence helps a lesser-known Met stand out.

In the Mets' first game of the playoffs, it was Vientos' single off Aaron Ashby in the fifth inning that broke the tie and scored the game-winning hit.

In their first NLDS game, Vientos' game-winning single in the eighth inning sparked a five-run frame and a comeback win.

In Game 2 of the NLDS, Vientos became the third-youngest player to total 10 bases in a playoff game.

On Monday, he became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in LCS history. Vientos would add a single in his next at-bat for his sixth multi-hit game in nine postseason appearances.

He now leads all players in hits and RBIs this October.

“He’s very confident,” Lindor reiterated. “He is a player who believes in himself. He doesn’t give in.”

Despite the confidence and swagger, Vientos has still demonstrated a preternatural attitude to consistently deliver when opportunities arise.

During his Grand Slam, Vientos said he didn't think about going deep. But when Landon Knack threw a four-seater straight down the middle on the ninth pitch of the at-bat?

“Yes,” said Vientos, “I didn’t want to miss that.”

Vientos delivered, as he has done so often against his opponents this month and throughout the 2024 season, cementing his place as New York's third baseman of the future.

While his 391-foot drive at Citi Field and 23 other major league stadiums would have been a flyout, all that mattered was Dodger Stadium, he went on and on and on…until he went over the wall in right center field fell, galvanizing a Mets team that had returned to form and dashing the Dodgers' hopes early in a bullpen game.

“You haven’t seen a big turnaround,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It was, let me put it in play, let me stay in the big part of the ballpark, and he was able to drive that one. You see the next shot against a lefty, he just goes the other way with ease and just shoot the ball the other way. This is not only a sign that you are a good hitter, but also someone who is mature and in control.

The Mets have proven all year long that they won't give up.

In Game 2, after their worst loss of the postseason, they fell behind their MVP candidates and the 24-year-old behind him who plays like one.

“That’s him,” Lindor said. “I’m glad he took it personally. He has to keep climbing.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the LA Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. Rowan, an LSU graduate, was born in California, grew up in Texas and then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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