The New York Mets are having a rough year. They’re 38-53 after Monday night’s win over the Atlanta Braves, and you don’t need a spreadsheet to know that’s not good. But none of that is Juan Soto’s fault.
Against the Braves on Monday, Soto put together a stat line that hasn’t been seen in Queens since David Wright was still the face of the franchise. He hit a home run, drove in three runs, walked three times, and stole a base. According to StatMuse, that’s the first time a Met has done all four in the same game since Wright did it back in 2007. That’s 19 years ago. That’s how rare this is.
The home run was the big one. Three-run bomb in the top of the ninth that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead. The Mets ended up winning 7-6 in extra innings on the road, which sounds dramatic and it was. But without Soto’s blast, there’s no extra innings to talk about.
It’s not like Soto is some platoon guy who caught lightning in a bottle for one night. He came into Monday with an OPS of .966. He’s an on-base machine. Pitchers are terrified of him, and that fear has only gotten worse as the lineup around him has cratered. When you’re the only guy in the order who scares anyone, you see fewer fastballs and more nibbling. Soto just takes the walks and waits for the one pitch he can punish.
Soto’s season has been a bright spot in a dark year
Look, the Mets have been a mess. They signed Soto to a massive deal last offseason and he hasn’t been as dominant as he was with the Yankees. That’s true. His overall value has dipped partly because he’s been limited to DH duty more than anyone expected. His defense has slipped and the Mets have had to manage his workload accordingly.
But here’s the thing — when you’re producing at the plate like this, nobody’s going to complain about the glove. Soto is still one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. He’s doing it with a terrible supporting cast. The lineup around him has been so bad that opposing pitchers can basically pitch around him knowing the guys behind him aren’t likely to make them pay.
The Mets have taken plenty of heat for underperforming. Rightfully so. But the Soto signing itself has worked out exactly the way it was supposed to. He’s giving them elite production even while the rest of the roster is basically trying to figure out which prospect to trade for a bag of balls.
The team around him simply has to be better. That’s not Soto’s problem. That’s for the front office to figure out this winter. In the meantime, he keeps showing up and doing stuff nobody in a Mets uniform has done in nearly two decades.
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