For the first two months of the season,Juan Soto didn’t look like the guy the Mets gave $765 million to. But lately? He’s starting to feel like that guy.
In Wednesday night’s 5-0 win over the Nationals, Soto added another long ball to his June highlight reel – a 408-foot blast off a hanging curve from Jake Irvin. It was his fifth homer in 11 games and another reminder of just how quickly things can change in baseball.
After two quiet months at the plate, the 26-year-old is finally looking locked in. In his first 30 at-bats this month, Soto is slashing .367/.558/.733, with three home runs and six RBI. The Mets are 7-3 in that stretch – and suddenly, Soto doesn’t look like a burden. He looks like a boost.
Midseason Groove or Just a Hot Week?
Sure, the recent schedule hasn’t been brutal – the Mets have faced the Rockies and Nationals, two teams near the bottom of the NL in both ERA and win percentage. But the quality of opposition doesn’t explain the better swings, the sharper eye, or the rising confidence.
“It’s the rhythm he’s in right now,” said manager Carlos Mendoza, via The Athletic. “You can just see it – he’s relaxed, he’s tracking pitches, and when he connects, it’s loud.”
That wasn’t the case in April and May. Soto hit just .232 and .219 in those months, and his slugging percentage barely cracked .450. The strike zone discipline was there – the OBP stayed strong – but the power and timing weren’t. It led to plenty of questions and some not-so-quiet frustration in Queens.
But Mendoza didn’t flinch. “He’s Juan Soto,” he said in May, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. “He’s going to be fine.”
Now, with New York sitting atop the NL standings at 44-24, the decision to bet big on Soto is starting to look smarter by the day. If this is the version they’re getting for the next 14.5 years, the Mets might not have overpaid after all.
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