Carlos Mendoza feels Mets’ Mark Vientos is in a ‘good place’ offensively despite lack of spring results

It’s been a tough spring thus far for Mark Vientos.

Competing for his share of playing time in camp, the right-handed hitting infielder got off to about as rough a start you could see before leaving the Mets for the World Baseball Classic.

Vientos went hitless over his first 12 Grapefruit League at-bats before lining an opposite-field double off the fence in his final game with the club.

He recorded a knock in an exhibition against the Mets, but wasn’t able to carry the success over to pool play, going just 2-for-15 with six strikeouts in Nicaragua’s four games.

And after another hitless showing on Saturday night against the Astros, the slugger is now a combined 0-for-8 with two strikeouts since rejoining the team.

Put together both stat lines, and Vientos is just 3-for-36 on the spring.

While the results haven’t been there, Carlos Mendoza actually likes he’s seen, as he feels Vientos has been hitting the ball hard just into some tough luck.

“Yesterday he had an 0-for with two balls hit at 100 mph, the first at-bat today it was 105 off the bat — I think he’s in a good place, he’s just not getting the results,” the skipper said postgame Saturday.

While he has been mashing the ball, this is getting to be an familiar picture for Vientos and the Mets.

The former first-round pick homered 27 times and shined during the playoffs in his first full year with the club, but he ultimately saw his numbers drop off last season.

Vientos hit just .233 with 17 homers, a .289 OBP, and a .702 OPS.

With much more competition for at-bats this time around, he’ll have to start finding grass over the next few weeks to carveout a regular role.

The 26-year-old is aware, and he isn’t too concerned.

“This isn’t anything new,” Vientos recently told Max Goodman of NJ.com. “Coming into the league, it was an earn your stripes type of situation — I earned them, I was playing every day. I feel like this year might be the same thing — it’s just earn at-bats and that’s fine, I’ll earn them, I’m ready.”

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