Three for Third: Mets Infield Logjam
While the Mets continue to hang on to a playoff spot by the skin of their teeth, despite losing to the Atlanta Braves today, a completely foreseen problem has reemerged. That is, on their roster, they have three third basemen, and all three of them are young, developing players. In addition, all of them come with a top prospect pedigree. The origins of this conundrum started all the way back in 2023 when both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos got their first extended run at the big league level.
Baty was anointed the savior at the position as he was a top 20 prospect in all of baseball. Unable to produce, he was relegated to a part-time role where at-bats were given to Vientos instead, who also didn’t produce at the Major League level. Both players accumulated negative WAR, and the team entered the offseason with its eyes turned to Ronny Mauricio. A top shortstop prospect they hoped to convert to third, given the presence of Francisco Lindor. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL playing winter ball down in the Dominican.
This led the Mets to try and run it back again with Brett Baty and Mark Vientos in 2024. Baty got out to a similarly slow start and eventually got sent down to the minors and lost his spot to Vientos. Who, after taking over the third base spot, helped power the Mets to a playoff berth and two postseason series wins. There were hopes that Vientos could continue that level of play this season; however, that just never fully materialized.
This leads to the current logjam, where you have three top hundred prospects with varying degrees of success in the majors splitting at-bats. Mauricio is healthy and seems to have the highest ceiling while also having the least amount of games played in the Majors. Vientos has had the most success but also has played the worst this season. Baty has performed the best so far this season, but has also had the most extensive failures when he has been called up. Each one of them has had stretches of quality play this season, but never fully put it together. Thanks to injuries, there have been some at-bats up for grabs at DH and in the outfield.
The team would shift second base and utilityman Jeff McNeil to the outfield, then try Baty at second. Occasionally, Vientos would get at-bats at first base as well. Those two, plus Mauricio, have all split time at DH as well. So right now, basically one of the three would start at third on any given night, and another would spell whoever needs a day off elsewhere, either at DH, second, or first. Baty, with his play this season, has earned the lion’s share of the playing time. Where does that leave the other two?
If Pete Alonso leaves in free agency, they could shift Vientos across the diamond. Or next season, with no Starling Marte, he could be the primary DH. Either one of those options opens up extra at-bats; there is also the option of playing Baty at second base, which allows Mauricio to start at third. There is also a universe next season where Baty is at third, Marucio is the DH, and Vientos is at first. This becomes a lot harder if the team brings back Pete Alonso. There is also the potential that the team trades either McNeil or Brandon Nimmo if they miss the postseason. Which would open up at-bats in the outfield or at second.
The simplest solution would be to trade one of the third basemen; however, none of them, based on their play, have a particularly high trade value. Starting next season with two of those three as everyday players is not ideal for a team hoping to make the playoffs. Right now, they are in a holding pattern until one of them fully steps up or they are forced to move on from a player elsewhere on the roster. Nothing big will change the rest of this season, and it sure looks like we’re heading into next year with the same problem.
