Juan Soto #22 of the New York Mets hits a single against the St. Louis Cardinals (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – Few, if any, in baseball can alter the complexion of an at-bat like Juan Soto.
The right fielder was batting for the New York Mets in the second inning, ahead 2-0 against the Washington Nationals at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Feb. 28. He fouled off a changeup thrown by Shinnosuke Ogasawara, a 27-year-old left-hander imported to Washington from Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan.
Soto nodded back, telling Ogasawara: no problem. The next pitch was a fastball away that he smashed to left field. It was 4-0 Mets in a game they’d win 7-0.
The homer was Soto’s second of the spring. He wasted no time showing why Mets owner Steve Cohen gave him a 15-year, $765 million contract by homering off Houston Astros left-hander Colton Gordon in his first at-bat of a 6-2 victory on Feb. 22. He’s aware of the allure he’s created: a 26-year-old batting .285 with 201 home runs, 592 RBI, and a 2019 World Series ring with the Nationals after joining the Majors the year before.
Soto going to work against Ogasawara is his modus operandi. He controls the narrative and gets his first real chance in Houston for Opening Day on Thursday, when he’s projected to hit second behind Francisco Lindor, a finalist for the 2024 National League Most Valuable Player, won by Shohei Ohtani. Behind him are likely Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos, and Brandon Nimmo.
It’s a formidable Mets lineup that will show greater resolve and again challenge the New York Yankees for baseball supremacy in their city. The perceived little brother is betting big on a hypnotic talent—an apt description echoing Reggie Jackson’s advice to Alex Rodriguez:
With the bat in your hand, you can change the story.
Soto’s Presence Raises the Stakes
“Barry Bonds is the closest that I’ve ever faced where he controlled the at-bat,” retired Mets right-hander Nelson Figueroa told RG. “The at-bat was over if you threw Ball One. You didn’t want to have to pitch him a fastball on a fastball count. That was going to be a losing affair.
“Even when [Soto is] not swinging, it’s just the way he takes pitches.
It’s the way he lets you know—if that’s the best you got, this next pitch better not be close. We’ve seen him have that little nod, that little smile on his face. I don’t think he does it to embarrass the pitcher, but at the same time, he’ll let you know: if you’re going to make a mistake, you’re going to pay for it.”
Soto left the Bronx for Flushing after hitting 41 home runs—his most in the Majors—finishing third in American League MVP voting behind Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr., and helping the Yankees win their first pennant since 2009. Mets fans were delirious. Yankees fans, not so much. But baseball in New York wins when both teams are championship contenders.
It happened in the late 1990s when the Yankees established a dynasty, all roads leading to a five-game win against the Mets in the 2000 World Series. The ’85 Yankees traded for Rickey Henderson and were led by AL MVP Don Mattingly to go 97-64, two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. The Mets entered the 1986 season coming off 98 wins and contending until the last week before finishing three games behind the eventual NL champion St. Louis Cardinals.
The Mets stole headlines this winter. The Yankees pivoted to Plan B—pitching, fundamentals, and defense—by trading for closer Devin Williams and outfielder Cody Bellinger, and signing first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and left-hander Max Fried, the latter for eight years and $238.4 million. At stake is ending championship droughts of 16 years for the Yankees and 29 for the Mets.
Along the way will be another battle for the core of the Big Apple.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Mets legend Dwight Gooden, the ‘85 Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion the following year, told RG.
Figueroa rejected the little-brother perception. The Mets have Soto one season after a surprise run to the NLCS, a six-game loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. There’s nothing new to prove, only to accomplish after breaking through to the other side. And the reigning AL champions are not relegated to the background. Win or lose, it’s going to be exciting, because few, if any, can control the temperature better than No. 22 now wearing orange and blue.
Spring training was mere foreshadowing.
“You could see it,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after Soto’s debut. “All the people. There’s a lot more cameras. As soon as he stepped on the field, he was walking toward the cage, you could just feel it. And when he stepped in that batting cage with all the boys who were there … heads turned around. It was like, ‘OK. Here he is.’”
