Juan Soto's first couple of months in a New York Mets uniform haven't quite gone as planned. Yes, he's been good, but not quite $765 million good. On top of that, his body language has looked off at times, and recently, it has appeared as if he hasn't been running his hardest in certain situations. After two clear instances of this in back-to-back games, Mets fans have become increasingly frustrated with this, and yet, Soto believes it isn't an issue.
"I think I've been hustling pretty hard. If you see it today, you could tell."
Soto jogged on what could've potentially been a single in the eighth inning of what was a tie game on Sunday against the New York Yankees. Not even 24 hours later, he stood and watched what he thought was a home run in Monday's series opener against the Boston Red Sox and had to settle for a single as a result.
It's clear that something is going to have to change here, and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said postgame that he plans on talking to the outfielder about this very issue.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
It's getting harder for Mets fans to defend Juan Soto
Mets fans took to X to vent their frustration after another example of Soto not running his hardest.
Mets fans have embraced Soto like no other player really in the franchise's history outside of homegrown superstars like Tom Seaver and David Wright, but it's getting a lot harder for them to defend him. As this fan said, it's one thing for Soto to slump. Mets fans are confident he'll get going, much like superstars like Francisco Lindor and even Carlos Beltran did after sluggish starts to their Mets careers. It's another for him not to be playing with 100 percent effort. To put it simply, he was not running close to his hardest in either of these plays the last two nights.
At the end of the day, Mets fans really just wanted to see accountability from their $765 million man. Had he said something along the lines of "I'll do better next time," there'd be no story here.
What's frustrating is that Soto has more in him. He stole a base immediately after not hustling in Monday's game. He's actually stolen four bases in his last five games, the most he's had in any five-game stretch of his career. He can run when he wants to.
It's important for Mendoza to navigate this situation appropriately. On one hand, it's important that Soto knows that he has to hustle all the time, even when he thinks he might've hit a home run or hit into an easy out. On the other hand, the last thing the Mets can afford to do is alienate Soto in any way. Hopefully, the message gets across and the team avoids any sort of Ronald Acuña Jr. incident.