Everyone in and around the New York Mets locker room was concerned about the lack of consistency, at least the kind that was expected from a $765 million player, and which had been promised for months. The Dominican slugger Juan Soto was off to a slow start, beginning the season with figures that, while considerable, look discreet in terms of the expectation generated after the multi-million dollar deal he signed with the Queens nine.
“Go out and play”: Mets to Juan Soto
However, the Mets are in no hurry and the management has asked Soto to “just go out and play” as if asking a child to have fun, to play loose, without pressure, without obligation, to get the best out of him. And the player has taken it to heart, as he has repeatedly stated that he is not worried about the pressure, that he does not know it.
These statements seemed, in light of the results until Thursday night, to be a boast of self-confidence with a very short expiration date, but Soto was right. And perhaps the spur was that his name did not appear in the April selections for the All-Star Game, where Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor did stand out
Soto’s hitting streak has begun to blossom, with his three home runs, seven doubles and 14 RBIs in 32 games, with a .252/.379/.443 average. Soto hit 12 home runs in 35 road games at Citi Field, but entered Thursday hitting just .241 in 54 at-bats at home this season. He has also surrendered 10 walks, plus eight strikeouts and four doubles.
Soto’s ‘return’ with pure home run and at home
The Dominican slugger hit two home runs in the game that the Mets lost to the Diamondbacks at Citi Field, banishing the ghosts that worried everyone except him and his manager Carlos Mendoza, who did not sound the alarm at the lack of power in the Dominican’s bat in his first 15 home games at Citi Field
Soto hit his first two home runs at home on Thursday, and although those were the only runs for New York in the 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the good news is that his return is on the horizon. “It’s always good to see him. We knew he was close,” Mendoza said.
“I’m not in a hurry to hit a home run or to get hits. I have no pressure, but only two home runs were not enough to get the win,” Soto said after the game Thursday night, but it seems that he prefers to talk with the bat, and proof of this are his two home runs, one in the sixth inning against Zac Gallen and another in the eighth against Kevin Ginkel, both hits that had exit velocities lower than his 110.1 mph grounder to shortstop in the first inning, but enough to rekindle passions at Citi Field, a very necessary matter to calm the waters and hope that the streak continues.
*With information from Lapresse
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