As the Mets secured a 4-1 win over the Cardinals on Thursday, Juan Soto took a small step in quieting the rumblings of discontent. His eighth-inning walk pass masked what had otherwise been another difficult night at the plate.
Soto, now 19 games into his first season with the Mets, went 0-for-3 in the series opener-grounding into a double play, striking out, and grounding out-before working his way on base late.
For a player who was batting .352 with a 1.055 OPS at this point last season in pinstripes, the contrast is hard to ignore. This year, he’s hitting just .221 with three home runs and a .773 OPS.
“I’ve been growing as a man through my whole career, and I just know things are gonna change,” Soto told The New York Post. “I just gotta keep grinding.”
Patience remains Soto’s approach
Though the production has dipped, the underlying metrics offer signs of encouragement. Soto‘s double-play ball on Thursday left the bat at 106.7 mph.
In the fifth, he was retired on another sharply hit ball-this one clocked at 97.7 mph. Those numbers suggest he’s still seeing the ball well, just not getting the breaks.
Soto’s comments earlier in the week added more context.
Without Aaron Judge hitting behind him, as he did during Soto’s 2024 season with the Yankees, pitchers have approached him more cautiously. It’s something he’s noticed and is adjusting to, albeit with some early struggles.
Despite the rocky start, Soto‘s plate discipline remains elite. He now has 15 walks on the season, helping to prop up his on-base numbers while the rest of his game catches up.
He also homered twice during the Mets‘ recent series against the Twins, showing glimpses of the player the team committed to for 15 years.
And while the numbers pale in comparison to his white-hot 2024 April, they echo a more familiar beginning from 2023, when Soto batted just .164 over the same stretch with the Padres.
That season, he ultimately finished with a .275 average, 35 home runs, and a .930 OPS-numbers that should comfort anyone overreacting to an April slump.
“It’s just baseball,” Soto said. “There’s nothing I can do. Definitely I’m trying my best to get going and help the team … but things happen timing-wise and swinging-wise. It’s just weird. It’s baseball.”
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