Juan Soto’s Outstanding Year Is Being Overshadowed
Juan Soto is putting together an MVP-caliber season, but the Mets' disappointing year has overshadowed his accomplishments.
After Wednesday night’s doubleheader sweep by the Chicago Cubs dropped the New York Mets to a season-worst 12 games under .500, play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen summed it up best: “This team is in the depths of despair.”
The Mets have been nothing short of awful despite entering the season with MLB’s second-highest payroll. During the second game of the doubleheader on Wednesday, the infield alone committed six errors. No, that is not a typo. A team that preached run prevention over adding proven offensive stars like Pete Alonso has failed on both sides of the ball.
As has been too often the case, the Mets are once again the laughingstock of baseball. Mets fans thought they had finally escaped the dark cloud that has hovered over this franchise for years when they signed Juan Soto two winters ago. Instead, even with one of the greatest talents of this generation, the Mets appear headed for a second straight season without a postseason berth.
It’s a real shame because Soto has looked right at home in his second season in Flushing. Although he is currently banged up, Soto is putting together another spectacular year.
Juan Soto Is Right Back in the MVP Conversation
If not for Shohei Ohtani, he’d be firmly in the MVP conversation. Soto, one of the game’s most prolific left-handed sluggers, is hitting .299/.399/.567 with a .966 OPS, 17 home runs, and a 166 wRC+.
Soto has been especially dominant over the past month. In his last 25 games dating back to May 26, he is hitting .307 with 7 home runs and 17 RBI. Part of that surge has come from using a new bat with a thicker, more pronounced knob. The adjustment shifts more weight toward the handle instead of making the bat barrel-heavy.
Just as he has throughout his career, Soto ranks among baseball’s elite in nearly every meaningful offensive metric. For just the second time in his career, he ranks in the 100th percentile in expected slugging percentage. The only other time he accomplished that was during the 2020 season.
Despite missing 15 games with a calf strain in April, Soto’s 2.4 fWAR easily leads the Mets. It also highlights just how dependent this team has become on him. Outside of Soto, the Mets’ next four-highest position players in WAR sit at 1.4 or below.
With Francisco Lindor battling injuries this season, Soto has been the one constant keeping the Mets’ offense afloat. Just a few days ago, New York sat only five games out of a Wild Card spot. Then came a five-game losing streak, during which Soto missed two and a half games. The Mets have now fallen nine and a half games back and have already begun signaling a shift toward selling by trading David Peterson to the Cubs.
The Rest of the Mets Are Falling Short
Outside of Soto, Carson Benge, and A.J. Ewing, very few hitters have met expectations.
Bo Bichette has started to heat up, but he still owns an OPS below .700 and has not come close to justifying his $42 million salary. Brett Baty and Mark Vientos both had opportunities to lock down everyday roles, but neither capitalized. Baty is hitting just .217, while Vientos owns a .255 on-base percentage.
Marcus Semien hasn’t been much better in his first season in Queens. Among qualified hitters, his .613 OPS ranks near the bottom of Major League Baseball. Only seven players (including teammate Baty) are below him on the leaderboard.
The starting rotation has performed even worse. The Mets have been outscored 54-22 during their current five-game losing streak. Their biggest offseason acquisition, Freddy Peralta, owns a 4.53 ERA. Even Nolan McLean, whom many expected to emerge as the Mets’ next ace, has pitched to a 4.03 ERA.
Needless to say, almost nothing has gone right for New York this season, and that’s a huge reason why Carlos Mendoza was let go on Friday morning.
Watching a generational talent like Soto get wasted on another disappointing Mets team brings back memories of Jacob deGrom. Despite his Hall of Fame-caliber peak, the Mets reached the postseason just three times during his tenure, with only one appearance coming while he was in his prime.
Unlike deGrom, though, Soto has been surrounded by proven major league talent that should be capable of reaching an expanded postseason field. Instead, nearly every part of the roster has underperformed.
Closing Thoughts
Where do the Mets go from here? That’s the question everyone is asking. If they continue to sell, they have several intriguing bullpen arms and starting pitchers who could bring back valuable returns. If they somehow pull off a miraculous turnaround, it would be one of the most unbelievable stories in franchise history.
Either way, significant changes appear to be coming this offseason. David Stearns already began reshaping the roster before this season, but the organization’s disappointing year will likely force an even deeper evaluation. The Mets simply can’t afford to waste more of Soto’s prime.
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Written by
Thomas Kelson is an intern at Just Baseball and a graduating senior at Rutgers University, where he studied Journalism and Media Studies with a specialization in…