Mark Vientos accomplished ‘hardest thing to do’ in his Mets breakout

MILWAUKEE — Mark Vientos’ .851 OPS ranked fourth in baseball among third basemen entering play Thursday.

His .523 slugging percentage was third.

His 26 home runs in 107 major league games represented a 39-homer pace for a complete, 162-game season.

With those 26 dingers, he joined Darryl Strawberry, David Wright, Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez as the only players in franchise history to smack 25 or more homers at age 24 or younger.

There has been a lot to like about Vientos’ season, but the number that has meant the most to him will reach 139 on Friday.

Those 139 games played, between the majors and minors, will be 13 more than the career-high he set last season.

“Out of all the stats, that’s probably the coolest stat for me,” Vientos said Wednesday, before the Mets were rained out in Atlanta and flew to begin a series with the Brewers on Friday. “The hardest thing to do is to play every single day.”

Vientos’ breakout season also has been a generally healthy one, for which he credited day-to-day discipline and a focus particularly on his high-protein diet.

Vientos thanked team nutritionist Jeremy Chiang, saying he is playing at about the same weight as past seasons but feels leaner and stronger.

The production from Vientos has slightly dipped this month, with a .749 OPS, but he has still swung a strong bat at the most difficult time of the season to do so.

“Knock on wood, this is probably the best I’ve ever felt in September,” said Vientos, whose home run Tuesday became the only run scored against the Braves.

Since replacing Brett Baty in May, Vientos has not stopped hitting, has played respectable defense at third base and has been available.

Since Baty was optioned on May 31, Vientos has appeared in 93 of 101 games.

Vientos’ season has been defined by its consistency, rarely falling into funks.

If his bat has slowed at the end of the longest season of his life, it has not been evident.

“I think it comes out of how disciplined I’ve been from the beginning of the year till now,” Vientos said. “What I eat, how I’ve been recovering, how I’ve been sleeping.

“I’ve always set a goal for me to play every game in the season, and this is the closest I’ve come to it.”