Juan Soto has been scuffling more than shuffling so far this season.
The New York Mets gave Soto a 15-year, $765 million deal because he is one of the best players in Major League Baseball and still only 26 years old. However, the early returns of the richest contract in sports history have not been promising.
Coming off a career year with the crosstown rival New York Yankees, Soto has seen his numbers plunge in his first two months in Queens.
Soto’s batting average (.233), on-base percentage (.361), slugging percentage (.409), and OPS (.771) are all the lowest of his career.
Aside from his disappointing offensive output, Soto has been scrutinized for his lack of effort after getting caught jogging out of the batter’s box on multiple occasions.
Soto is not having the best start to his Mets tenure, but even at his worst, he’s still performing better than most players.
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Soto is sporting a 122 OPS+ (the league average is 100) and has more walks (41) than strikeouts (40), which is why he could still earn some accolades come season’s end.
MLB.com released its predictions for the All-MLB Team, and Soto was named to the second team for outfielders.
His inclusion on this list is certainly aided by past achievements, having been named an All-Star and Silver Slugger the last four seasons, but it’s also a prediction that he’ll eventually snap out of his slump and return to the $765 million player he is.
Part of Soto’s early-season struggles can be attributed to bad luck. Soto’s expected batting average (.297) is much higher than his actual average (.233), meaning he’s making good contact on the ball and should be getting more hits than he is.
Soto is also getting acclimated to playing for a new team in a new ballpark. The same thing happened when he got traded to the San Diego Padres in 2022. He struggled in his first 52 games after getting moved at the deadline, but then dominated the following season.
Soto has played 53 games with the Mets so far, so it might only be a matter of time until he turns things around like he did in San Diego.
It may seem hard to believe that Soto could make an All-MLB Team after starting the season in a rut, but he still has four months to get his numbers back to where they should be, and if he ends up helping the Mets win the NL East in the process, that’ll only strengthen his case.
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