Mets' Mark Vientos problem has multiple layers

When Mark Vientos first arrived in the big leagues a few years ago, he seemed to have massive potential for the New York Mets.

These days, he seems much more like a player with a bunch of flaws.

There are numbers to be looked at, but first, one post on X has gone a bit viral for summing up Vientos' multi-faceted problems:

The thing about Mark Vientos is he can’t field, and he’s the slowest player I’ve ever seen, but he also can’t hit.

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Besides that, Vientos does a lot of things well -- oh wait, that's everything.

Vientos had a weird drop at first base during Tuesday night's loss to the Mariners, which didn't help improve his standing to Mets fans.

He's also batting just .219 this season. Vientos has seven home runs but not a ton else, as his OPS is just .634.

His strikeout rate of 42 punchouts in 187 at bats isn't even particularly bad for a supposed power hitter, but since Vientos isn't doing a lot of outrunning infield grounders for hits, it's not helping him all that much.

Vientos had an .838 OPS in a strong 2024 season, but it was .702 last year and now .634 this year.

He's 26 years old, still conceptually with time to figure things out and grow into a better contributor again, but also maybe not possessing the ideal skillset to become an all-around star that the Mets may have hoped for at one point in his development.

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