Mets fans are not holding back—and frankly, neither is the pressure cooker surrounding Juan Soto. The newly minted megastar, with a contract that sounds like something out of a sci-fi budget report —$765 million, to be exact — is finding out real fast what it means to wear the blue and orange in New York.
Forget the “Soto Shuffle” for a second—what’s shuffling now are the fans in their seats, standing up just to let him know what they think at the moment. The boo birds during Wednesday’s 9-4 loss to the White Sox were loud—maybe the noisiest of the season at home. And you know what? New York fans don’t boo nobodies. They boo the stars when expectations aren’t being met.
Beyond the Box Score: The Real Story in the Stats
Before we send out a search party for Soto’s bat, let’s pump the brakes and look under the hood because this is not just your garden-variety slump. Soto’s been snake-bit with some terrible luck.
One example would be the double run taken off the board thanks to a base running misfire by Brandon Nimmo. And here’s the kicker—Baseball Savant tells a pretty compelling story. Soto’s expected weighted on-base average is a scorching .420. That’s fifth-best in all of Major League Baseball, behind only the unicorn himself, Shohei Ohtani.
He’s hitting the ball hard but just not getting the results. That’s the cruel beauty of baseball. The ball finds gloves. The bloops don’t drop. And even a guy with elite metrics like Soto can look like he’s pressing when his stat line doesn’t match the $765 million narrative.
Managerial Faith, Fan Frustration
Manager Carlos Mendoza is staying the course, “Too good of a hitter. Too good of a player,” he said. And he’s right. Soto’s not some washed-up veteran clinging to past glories. He’s 26. He’s got eight homers and 25 RBIs in 55 games. But in New York, where the fans are part of the heartbeat, that’s not enough. Not with that paycheck. Not when your team is two games behind Philly and needs every bat to come alive.
What’s also worth noting is the subtle decline in bat speed—from 94th percentile last season to 73rd now. That doesn’t scream “panic,” but it does raise an eyebrow. Combine that with a 20% drop in line drives compared to his Yankee days, and suddenly, the whispers about whether Soto is pressing turn into full-blown hot takes on sports radio.
The Colorado Crucible
And here comes the real test: next up, they face the Rockies. With a record of 9-47, Colorado’s barely clinging to Major League status. If Soto can’t get it right against them, oh man, those boos may be on the Richter scale. They’re about to hit surround sound.
It’s go-time for Juan Soto. And in New York, go-time means results. The shuffle’s cute. The metrics are great. But the scoreboard? That’s the only thing that talks in Queens.
