After not adding DH, Mets need to ride with Mark Vientos — not a platoon

The Mets had four seemingly glaring needs after the 2023 season.

As they entered their first offseason with David Stearns at the helm, those needs were starting pitching, bullpen help, a regular outfielder, and a legitimate DH.

To address the rotation, the Mets signed Luis Severino and Sean Manaea, and traded for Adrian Houser.

In the bullpen, they made a plethora of low-risk signings early before inking more established arms late -- Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, and Shintaro Fujinami.

For the outfield, they went defense-first, signing center fielder Harrison Bader to a one-year deal in a move that will result in Brandon Nimmo shifting to left.

At DH, they did nothing, even though there were numerous options in free agency that could've made plenty of sense.

Teoscar Hernandez signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Justin Turner inked a one-year pact with the Toronto Blue Jays, and Jorge Soler landed with the San Francisco Giants on a three-year deal. 

Of the above players, the one who made the most sense for the Mets was Soler, whose three-year deal will pay him $14 million annually -- a very reasonable cost in terms of both years and dollars for someone who hit 36 homers last season and has a 48-homer season under his belt.

It should be noted that J.D. Martinez remains unsigned, has drawn interest from the Mets, and might only require a one-year deal. But it sure feels like New York is going internal at DH.

And if the Mets do indeed go internal, their options include Mark Vientos, DJ Stewart, Luke Voit, and Ji-Man Choi, with the latter two recently agreeing to minor league deals.

In 2023, the Mets -- for most of the season -- attempted to piece the DH spot together by using a committee/platoon. That it didn't work doesn't mean that kind of approach can't work this season or in the future, but New York appears to have an obvious, full-time option staring them right in the face.

That option is Vientos.

Voit and Choi have had some success in the majors, but both struggled in a big way in 2023.

As far as Stewart, he has an intriguing left-handed power bat, and he went on an absolute tear last season. He's also still relatively young, entering his age-30 season.

But during a season where the Mets are placing an emphasis on seeing what they have with their younger players, this should be Vientos' job to lose.

And it being Vientos' job to lose doesn't mean as part of a platoon. He's shown he can hit both righties and lefties, has displayed immense power, and needs proper burn in the majors -- not a sprinkling of at-bats against lefties and lots of sitting on the bench against righties.

After Vientos spent most of the 2023 season in an irregular role, he was given consistent at-bats down the stretch. And once he settled in, he showed what he could do.

From Aug. 29 to Oct. 1 -- a span of 100 plate appearances over 26 games -- Vientos hit .245/.290/.489 with seven homers. Yes, the on-base percentage needs to improve, but the slugging is what Vientos' calling card will be.

Looking a bit deeper into the numbers, Vientos' max exit velocity in 2023 was in the top five percent of MLB, his average exit velocity was in the 92nd percentile, and his hard-hit percentage was also elite.

Taking a dive into Vientos' minor league numbers, you see a player who mashed -- and who had success against both righties and lefties.

Vientos popped 25 homers in 83 minor league games in 2021, cracked 24 in 101 games in 2022, and crushed 16 in 61 minor league games in 2023.

As far as Vientos' platoon splits in the minors...

Against right-handers, Vientos slashed 280/.371/.593 last season.

Against left-handers last season, Vientos slashed .400/.446/.680.

That was an improvement for Vientos from 2023, when he hit a still-respectable .259/.337/.429 against righties and ripped lefties to the tune of a .330/.408/.732 line.

Additionally, in his relatively small sample in the majors in 2023, Vientos didn't show any pronounced splits, actually faring a bit better slugging-wise against righties than lefties and hitting seven of his nine homers against right-handers.

Of course, pitching is a different animal in the majors, and it remains to be seen what Vientos' strengths will ultimately be.

But some projection systems are pretty bullish on him, even compared to some of the proven DH options who have signed -- and one who's still on the market.

Here's how Steamer projects Soler, Martinez, Turner, and Vientos for 2024:

Soler: .244/.333/.479 with a 119 wRC+
Martinez: .248/.314/.451 with a 107 wRC+
Turner: .261/.333/.414 with a 105 wRC+
Vientos: .244/.311/.451 with a 108 wRC+

It's fair to believe that those projections are similar to what the Mets are expecting from those players this season, which could be instructive when it comes to understanding why they didn't sign Soler, Turner, or -- to this point at least -- Martinez.

That doesn't mean Vientos is a slam dunk to excel this season, but -- for so many reasons -- now is his time for the Mets to let him sink or swim.