As May welcomes in MLB action, mega-superstar Juan Soto seems to have, finally, found his hitting groove with the New York Mets.
The Mets are on a roll. On the road Friday night in St. Louis taking on the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, a 9–3 victory for New York widened the club’s lead over the Philadelphia Phillies by 3.5 games in the National League East. The batting average is slowly creeping up for the four-time all-star. Smacking two hits on Friday has this past winter’s top free-agent prize at .258.
Soto, due to the enormous contract agreed upon with Mets’ owner Steve Cohen and his Cooperstown-like performances over the past eight seasons, is expected by the Mets’ fan base to deliver as he never had. As the calendar changes, Soto seems to have found a comfort level with his new baseball surroundings.
Soto, 26, signed with the Mets last December, with no deferrals in his historic contract, will earn almost $61.9 million this season. Pressure to perform at a high level each day and night on the field, however unfair, has a target on Soto. Last season after putting up monstrous numbers wearing New York Yankees’ pinstripes (and hitting in front of Aaron Judge), Cohen, a hedge fund trader by day, went all in to sign his guy. But, is it realistic to pin this season’s Mets’ success in 2025 on one player? There are 25 other teammates who need to execute their talents as well.
In an email sent to The Epoch Times, former Mets’ manager Terry Collins disagrees with the idea that this season for his former employer will be decided solely on how well Soto performs. When the Collins-led 2015 pennant-winning Mets marched into the World Series against the Kansas City Royals, a late season acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes apparently made the difference for the club to have clinched a postseason berth.
“It’s very hard to compare the two teams this early in the season. We really didn’t start to build our 2015 team until halfway through the season. But we did have great pitching, which this current team has. Plus, we were without our star David Wright for most of the season.”
Soto could be the reincarnation of Cespedes for this version of skipper Carlos Mendoza’s Mets. With Francisco Lindor hitting ahead of him in the lineup, and slugging Pete Alonso behind him, Soto’s opportunities for success at the plate couldn’t be more inviting. Then add Mark Vientos, Francisco Alverez, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil in the Mets’ hitting mix, and fans at Citi Field in Queens have every right to already be cautiously optimistic for a return to the postseason in October.
Fairly or not, waiting for a hot streak from Soto at the plate had a segment of Mets’ fans inpatient. Well, better late than ever. When Soto signed his billionaire owner’s contract, he also signed up for a never dimming spotlight for a 162-game season. With Soto performing as expected, a bullpen clicking perhaps even better than the high expectations were for when breaking from spring training, the Mets are a juggernaut their rival Los Angeles Dodgers have to scout to a higher level than in past seasons. Both clubs met in last season’s National League Championship Series, with the Dodgers taking the series in six games.
It’s that supporting cast for Soto, who won the National League batting title in 2020, that allows him more freedom to be choosy with the pitches he swings at. Alonso is March/April’s National League Player of the Month, as the first baseman is hitting at a .345 clip. Lindor continues to be a nightmare for opposing pitchers. His 38 hits, six home runs, and 10 walks going into Saturday’s game is even more intimidating than the .295 batting average registered. Nimmo’s 22 RBIs (second to Alonso’s 30) and 52 total bases aren’t giving opposing pitchers any leeway on experimenting with the type of pitches thrown. The nucleus of the 2025 Mets lineup does show some similarities with the 2015 club.
“In 2015, we (Mets) signed Michael Cuddyer in the winter, which really helped”, explains Collins. “ But as we began to add pieces like Kelly Johnson, Jose Uribe, Addison Reed, and Tyler Clippard, attitude in the clubhouse changed. That attitude exists now with the Mets. So as we get further into the season it will be interesting to see what moves the Mets make to address possible weaknesses. They don’t have many.”
Soto, hitting only three home runs in the first 31 games of the season, had Mets’ fans on edge. They expect Soto to demonstrate Superman tendencies, day in and day out. Fans’ appetites were quenched (at least for now), when Soto swatted two home runs on May 1 in a game with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field. The 36,239 fans on hand for what would be a Mets 4–2 loss, seemed to put aside the game’s losing outcome, and exhaled knowing that their superstar outfielder hitting .258 remembered how to swing for the fences.
“The inclusion of Juan Soto strengthens any teams’ lineup,” said John Arezzi, producer of The Terry Collins Show podcast to The Epoch Times during a phone conversation on Friday. “Soto is one of the elite players in the game. He’s ready for a breakout.”
