Mentorship in Action: Mets’ J.D. Martinez Shares Valuable Tips with Mark Vientos During First Workout.
>>. Because of his exceptional output history, which extends their lineup and increases their chances of making the playoffs, the New York Mets signed Martinez to serve as their designated hitter.
However, he is also a benefit to younger players as a mentor. For this reason, a specific scene from Saturday at Clover Park—the day the Mets announced Martinez’s signing—has significance.
In the brief moments in between batting practice sessions, Martinez, 36, put an arm around 24-year-old Mark Vientos and struck up a conversation.
Martinez spoke for the most part, while Vientos nodded. Martinez informed Vientos of his predicament and said,“There’s plenty of opportunities, whether it’s here, whether it’s another team, you just go out there and you play your game and you play your hardest and the chips are gonna fall. Talent will always find its way to the big leagues.”
It could have been an awkward encounter. Martinez is helping Vientos but also possibly squeezing him out of a steady role at DH.
However, it transpires that Martinez and Vientos had been acquainted for some time. Vientos moved as a teenager, and for his last year, he attended American Heritage High School in South Florida. However, Martinez attended and graduated from Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines, Florida, for the prior three years. According to Vientos, Martinez would visit his former school, which is how the two first got to know each other. Both athletes have recently worked out together at Bommarito Performance in Davie, Florida.
Vientos referred to Martinez as “just a really, really good dude.”
The Mets agree with that scouting report when it comes to talking hitting. After all, it’s part of the reason he’s here. A few Mets players and coaches approached him Saturday, gauging his interest in discussing the subject of hitting. That’s all it took. Martinez reassured them that they’d never disturb him with that conversation and told them, “I’m an open book.”
Martinez loves to talk about hitting.
“That’s my passion,” he said. “That’s what I do.”
The Mets didn’t add Martinez solely because of his reputation as a hitting savant, but officials know how much he cares about the topic. In baseball, everyone seems to know about Martinez’s affinity for discussing the intricacies behind the bat hitting the ball. For a club like the Mets, that’s not an insignificant thing.
The Mets want to run their organization in the same manner as the top teams in the league: by winning in the major leagues while also graduating players from the farm system. Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, and Vientos are three young players the Mets hope to develop into reliable batters in addition to their increased pool of position player prospects.
As they talked during batting practice, Martinez shared a famous anecdote of his own with Vientos. Martinez was terminated by the Houston Astros ten years ago. The gist of what happened next is that Martinez changed his swing significantly, established himself as one of the top sluggers in the game, and became an example of what occurs when athletes take responsibility for their own growth.
Funny, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns worked as the Astros’ assistant general manager when Houston made the infamous mistake. On Saturday, Stearns could laugh about it.
Martinez told Stearns, “Last time I came in this office with you, it didn’t end well.”
Stearns replied, “Oh, that was a long time ago. Big mistake!’”
“At the time it was the worst thing to me,” Martinez said. “And I felt like the world was falling down on me. But then I looked back and you know, God has got a reason he does everything and that was the biggest blessing for me ever. So I said, ‘Thank you.’”
Martinez’s tale and swing advice can be of assistance to someone like Vientos. Everyone associated with the Mets, including Pete Alonso, other players, and club officials, was giddy with anticipation about getting to know Martinez and seeking his advice on hitting. Martinez was well-known around the Los Angeles Dodgers last season because of his presence in the batting cage. It’s said that because of how frequently he showed up, they had to set up a schedule for guys to sign up for cage time. Along the way, Martinez mentored players such as Miguel Vargas, a highly anticipated young Dodger.
Martinez’s openness regarding hitting, his willingness to share — especially with young players — and his relatability to someone like Vientos makes for a nice story.
But it will all matter a whole lot less if Martinez doesn’t do the job he’s getting paid $12 million for 2024 to do, and that, quite simply, is hit.
Martinez joined the Mets less than a week before the season opener, which is Thursday, so he stood in during Adrian Houser’s bullpen session just to track balls. Martinez takes pride in knowing his swing, and that process requires time. After giving his consent, Martinez will be optioned to the minor leagues as a technicality to ensure he gets enough at-bats against live pitching to be ready for the season. The expectation is that he will need around 15 days so he will stay behind in Florida when the Mets depart for New York. In a twist, it’s possible Vientos ends up as the DH for Opening Day.
When Martinez is ready, the Mets need him to be the player who helped the Dodgers win the pennant last season, hitting 33 home runs with an OPS of.893, rather than the player who caused questions about his age and health by hitting 16 home runs with an OPS of.790, his lowest total over a complete season since he was traded by the Astros all those years ago.
“When I went to the Dodgers, they kind of showed me some things with my body that I wasn’t really aware of,” Martinez said. “The important things for me as I’ve gotten older are my mobility and staying loose. And they kind of addressed that right away when they saw it. They said, ‘Whoa, dude, what’s this?’ They kind of saw some things wrong with the way I was moving, and I started addressing it and then all of a sudden, the ball started flying again.
“I changed the way I trained. I changed the way that I just looked at how I was gonna get ready for a season and how I was going to maintain during a season. They did a good job making me aware of that.”
Fortunately for the Mets, the hitting guru still seems interested in learning.
