Juan Soto’s first month as a Met didn’t go exactly according to plan, as fans waited for the $765 million star to live up to expectations.
He didn’t hit his first home run at Citi Field until the Mets’ most recent game in Queens on May 1.
Perhaps that was what Soto needed to find his spark, a spark that has nearly always been there throughout his career — and was there from Day 1 with the Yankees in 2024.
And in that final game of the Mets’ last homestand, Soto didn’t just hit his first Citi Field homer; he went deep twice.
Since that two-homer game, Soto has looked a lot more like the hitter the Mets expected when he signed in December.
As the Mets head into Friday’s series opener against the Cubs at Citi Field, Soto is in the midst of a seven-game stretch in which he’s gone 9-for-26 with six extra-base hits (two doubles and four homers) and six walks in his last 33 plate appearances.
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The hot streak has taken Soto’s OPS from .752 to .863, the highest it’s been in a month.
Even before the recent upswing, Carlos Mendoza remained confident the star wasn’t far off, even as Soto’s OPS dropped to a season-low .752 the day before he finally went deep in Queens.
Soto even heard some smatterings of boos at home when he wasn’t producing and was being outperformed by Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor.
He returns to Queens again hitting like one of the most dangerous hitters in the sport.
Five balls Soto recently has put in play have been clocked at at least 100 mph off the bat.
“People forget that he’s human,” an AL scout said of Soto. “He’s locked in so often for so long, it just might have taken him some time to do it this year. But Mendoza was right not to worry or do anything drastic. This is the Soto we all expect and have seen for a long time.”
The Mets hope Jeff McNeil is ready to go after leaving Thursday’s game with a hamstring cramp suffered on his RBI triple in a win over Arizona.
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Mendoza indicated after the game the injury wasn’t a concern.
McNeil had been in left field, with Brandon Nimmo the DH while dealing with discomfort from hyperextending his knee while chasing a ball in the outfield.
