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Juan Soto had a career-best 2024 season with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs for the New York Yankees. The Dominican signed with the New York Mets as a free agent in the offseason, agreeing to a 15-year, $765 million contract, the largest in MLB history.
Fans expected Soto to replicate or even surpass his numbers from last season. However, the Dominican has started slower than fans would have hoped for, currently batting .257 with three home runs and twelve RBIs for the Mets.
The slow start has some fans impatient. However, speaking to MLB insiders Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on Monday, Mets owner Steve Cohen talked about how Juan Soto offered more than just what his stats sheet claimed. Cohen said he was not worried about the 26-year-old.
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"I think, if you ask him (Juan Soto), he'll probably say it's not going as what he hoped [it would be]. But, saying that, there's a lot of subtle things that he does, that I really think matters. The way that he works the count, makes pitchers throw extra pitches, you know, really matters." Steve Cohen said, via 'The Show' [22:24].
"Then he gets on base, then Pete [Alonso] can drive him in. And so, Pete's seeing better pitches. It's very subtle how that works, and you can't just look at it in a very narrow sense. Saying that 'I'm not worried about Juan,' I mean, he is singly focused on baseball. He's a pure hitter. Let's have this discussion at the end of the year." Cohen added.
MLB insider reinforces Steve Cohen's claim about Juan Soto 'grinding down pitchers'
Speaking about how Juan Soto helps the hitters around him in the Mets' lineup, insider Andy Martino talked about Soto's ability to "grind down pitchers," just like Steve Cohen did in the aforementioned clip.
"I think it helps the whole lineup in that he's grinding down pitchers. ... That's a way that he's helping the lineup for sure, even when he's not really Juan Soto in what he's ultimately going to be able to do and what he's done in the past, we haven't seen much of that yet but what we have seen is that his floor is pretty good [8:36]," Martino said.
According to Martino, the one player that has benefitted the most from this has been Pete Alonso, who has been enjoying a stellar season, batting just after Soto in the order.
"With Soto seeing so many pitches, Alonso's in the on-deck circle and he feels that he gets the chance to settle in and see all of the pitches that the pitcher's offering. Not that that pitcher is going to pitch Alonso the same way. ... But he can see the 3, 4, 5 pitches the guy's throwing [9:29]," Martino continued.
With the Mets aiming to challenge for both the NL East and the World Series, fans will hope Juan Soto can get back to his best as the season progresses.
