Juan Soto was the talk of the offseason and spring training after signing with the Mets on a massive deal last winter. And the slugger has been the talk of this season after he has gotten off to a slow start and is in a slump for the first time in some time.
“I honestly don’t have a like ‘this is the issue’ that he needs to fix to get better,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said during a news conference Friday ahead of the Mets opening a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies.
“I think he’s taking pretty good at-bats, he’s controlling the strike zone pretty well," Stearns continued. "He’s hitting the ball on the ground a little bit more than he has in the past. I think that’s something that he’s aware of. But telling yourself, ‘Hey, I need to hit the ball in the air more,’ doesn’t immediately translate to hitting the ball in the air more.
“Do I think he’s trying to do a little too much right now? Yeah, I think he’s probably trying to do a little bit too much right now. And that is natural for a player who cares about improving.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza sees it as just a matter of time before Soto gets going.
“We’ve seen it pretty much every day he’s hitting a couple balls hard. The results haven’t been there, but he’s gonna get going,” Mendoza said Friday. “Every day I sit here, you look at the numbers, he’s gonna get going here pretty soon.
The skipper added he hasn’t felt the need recently to have a conversation with Soto about his hitting: “He knows he’s in a good place. Treat him the same way I treat the other guys, too.”
Stearns doesn’t believe Soto is struggling with confidence, saying, “I think there’s frustration, sure, but I have not sensed a confidence issue.”
Stearns called it a “very unique position” for Soto, but there is a track record of players changing organizations and making big changes in their careers, taking a bit of time to adjust before turning it on, and is “very confident” Soto will soon come good.
“Maybe it will take a bloop or a couple bloops,” he said. “Or maybe it takes him connecting on one or two to exhale a little bit, but I would imagine it is difficult when the results don’t come.”
When it comes to possibly easing some of the pressure on Soto, the Mets' top baseball man said the only thing he can do is to "continue to support him." But even he admitted that could have a limit in its effectiveness.
"I don’t know how much pressure that eases," Stearns said. "He’s gonna put the pressure on himself. He's not feeling the pressure because of the things around him, I don't think. He's a highly competitive person who expects a lot of himself, who wants to win. And so when he’s not performing up to a level he's accustomed to, he's gonna put pressure on himself to do that."
While the slumping Soto still has posted a .745 OPS, good for an above-average 121 OPS+ and 113 wRC+, those numbers are well below his averages and what was expected after he signed a 15-year, $765 million deal in December.
The connection between his play and the pressure of expectation after signing a big contract isn’t far from the Mets’ minds.
“I also understand it is natural when a player signs a big contract – and this was a really big contract – if the results aren’t immediate, there are going to be questions and there are going to be reactions,” Stearns said. “And I completely get that, Juan does too.”