Mark Vientos starts as first base, Pete Alonso will undergo for MRI – The Denver Post

ATLANTA — Pete Alonso is still encouraged by the prognosis of the left wrist contusion, but the Mets are playing it safe and sending him back to New York for further testing.

Alonso, who was hit on the wrist with a pitch from Atlanta Braves right-hander Charlie Morton on Wednesday night, had a CT scan before departing Atlanta on Thursday and he’s scheduled to have an MRI in New York. The Mets want to have their own doctors from Hospital for Special Surgery evaluate their slugger, but the hope is that he can meet the team in Pittsburgh this weekend for a three-game series.

“Talking to Pete during the game out on the field and talking to him after the game, I knew he wasn’t going to play today,” manager Buck Showalter said Thursday before the series finale between the Mets and the Braves at Truist Park. “He was pretty sore. The scan was scheduled for here. As far as I know, he’s still encouraged.”

Mark Vientos made his first start at first base in place of Alonso. The rookie played a considerable amount of first base in the minor leagues, moving over to make room for Brett Baty at third base. Vientos primarily played at first base during spring training. Vientos will play Thursday as well, which would indicate that the Mets don’t expect to get Alonso back until Saturday, at the earliest.

“It’s not something that he’s not familiar with,” Showalter said. “We just hope that he can kind of get it going and give us a little help offensively.”

The Mets have favored Daniel Vogelbach over Vientos as the designated hitter recently, but Vogelbach is hitting just .203 this season with two home runs, but only .083 with 13 strikeouts over is last 15 games (3-for-36 in 44 plate appearances). Showalter has come under fire for favoring the struggling slugger but the lineup isn’t exactly a manager-only decision. The Mets gave Vogelbach a chance to show that he could hit for the same power he did last season, but ultimately he hasn’t been able to show that.

At some point, the Mets might have to figure out whether they’re better off without Vogelbach, especially if it means getting another bullpen arm. The question of how to proceed with Vientos is another one the Mets must answer soon, but for at least a few more days they have a place to play him.

Vientos has only gotten into 12 games since being called up from Triple-A Syracuse on May 17, and has had only limited opportunities to perform at the plate. He made one start at third base in Colorado two weeks ago. It’s difficult for a developing player to have such a minimal role, but the homegrown 23-year-old is doing what he can to stay ready.

“I’m just trying to take every day as if I’m playing,” Vientos recently told the Daily News. “I’m trying to keep everything the same and be consistent. The only way my play is going to be consistent is if my routine is consistent.”

Vientos does work at third base and first base daily, in addition to his work in the cages. He has hit just .188 since the call-up, but he’s shown flashes of the power the Mets saw when they selected him in the second round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

“You can’t sit around just because you’re not playing,” Vientos said. “You’ve got to try to get better, try to move.”

Alonso, who leads the league with 22 home runs, is still considered day-to-day.

()