Nearly one year ago, on May 30, 2024, Juan Soto was batting .312, had an on-base percentage of .415 and was slugging .584 in his first and only season with the New York Yankees. The right fielder ended the regular season playing 157 games with MVP-esque numbers: a .288 batting average, .419 OBP, slugging .519, and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .989, 41 home runs, 109 RBIs and 129 walks.
Twelve months later, Soto is way behind that impactful rate of production and is being analyzed through a powerful microscope by fans and media after signing the largest contract for a player in American team sports history last December.
Leaving the Bronx to join the Mets in Queens, Soto inked a 15-year, $765 million deal as team owner Steve Cohen, a hedge fund manager who according to Forbes has an estimated net worth of around $21 billion, made a long-term investment that he wagers will yield several World Series championships for the franchise.
While this season’s MLB schedule is only a little over two months in, the returns on Soto have been minimal. After going 0-4 in the Mets 6-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday at Citi Field in Queens, Soto was hitting a lowly .228, tied for just 132nd in all of baseball, was 55th in home runs with eight, sitting 81st in RBIs with 25 and a middling by his lofty standards .756 OPS, 83rd among all players.
So what’s wrong with the 26 year old four-time All Star and five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, the latter an honor given to the best offensive player at each position in both the American and National League?
The simple answer is baseball.
The sport can be unforgiving and like the stock market, a system in which Cohen has exceeding expertise, can be extremely volatile and uncertain. One of the most often asserted explanations in the large orbit of sports debates is that Soto is feeling immense pressure to live up to his enormous deal. However, the hefty weight that has crushed other players who have come to the Big Apple after having success with other teams doesn’t apply here because Soto thrived with the Yankees last year.
Perhaps he is overthinking his approach at the plate. Maybe, without arguably baseball’s best player as a protective force, Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge, last season’s AL MVP, who continues to post historic numbers, Soto has not yet adjusted to how pitchers are dissecting him.
It could be why he has had mental lapses, such as not running hard out of the batter’s box on occasion, which spurred a recent conversation between him and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza to remind Soto not to overlook some of the game’s fundamental details while critics regularly reference his paycheck
“What’s new is the contract,” Mendoza said last week in contrasting 2024’s and this season’s version of Soto. “That’s the biggest difference here.”
The Mets were a sturdy 34-21 before last night’s game against the White Sox, in second place NL East, only 1.5 games behind the sizzling Philadelphia Phillies. The back of Soto’s baseball card, which reads like a future Hall of Fame resume, says he will be at or near his career numbers as the season progresses.
Until then, he will be the subject of the question: what’s wrong with Juan Soto?
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