Mets announcer, ex-Gold Glover calls Juan Soto a 'liability' for Yankees

It's been a rough go lately for the New York Yankees, who are playing their worst baseball at an inopportune time. They've lost eight of their last 10 and each of their last four series after getting swept in the Queens portion of the Subway Series by the New York Mets.

Their offense has struggled mightily, and their pitching which was once so dominant has taken a major step back. They're still in first place in the AL East, but the Baltimore Orioles are just one game back.

Soto was unable to make a catch that Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez deemed he should have, and that caused Hernandez, an 11-time Gold Glove winner in his own right, to call Soto a 'liability.'

Keith Hernandez calls Juan Soto a 'liability' after poor defensive play

Here's the play. The Mets had opened a 3-0 lead and looking to pile on. Francisco Alvarez hit a fly ball to right field that hung up in the air for a while that Soto could not get to and catch. He did play the carom well off the wall, but Brandon Nimmo scored on the play to get the Mets another insurance run. The Mets wound up scoring three more runs that inning to open up a 7-0 lead, one of which came on a sacrifice fly that would've ended the inning had Soto come down with this fly ball.

Hernandez is not wrong here. This is a ball that absolutely should be caught, but Soto couldn't get there. Questioning why Soto is playing in the deeper corner where he'd have to cover more ground makes sense too, especially since he swapped places with Alex Verdugo at Fenway Park to give Soto the easier position in that instance. Boone did say Fenway Park was the only visiting stadium in which he was going to do that, but perhaps that shouldn't be the case.

Soto is widely regarded as a poor defender, and the stats back it up. He ranked in the third percentile in outs above average last season according to Baseball Savant. While he's been better in that regard this season, that can easily be attributed to playing right field at Yankee Stadium where he wouldn't have to cover as much ground. You see how that can be problematic at Citi Field.

While Soto can be considered a liability in the field, his bat almost always makes up for it. Unfortunately, in the rare times that his bat slumps and his team isn't winning, his subpar defense is more noticeable. While yes, he should've made this play, it's hard to believe anyone would bat an eye if he was hitting like Soto and/or the Yankees were winning.