Mets' David Stearns senses Juan Soto's 'frustration,' doesn't see slump as confidence issue

Stearns: 'I think [Soto is] probably trying to do a little bit too much right now'

5/30/2025, 9:40 PM
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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.”

New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (22) is brushed back during while batting in the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. / Tim Vizer-Imagn Images
New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (22) is brushed back during while batting in the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. / Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

Despite Soto’s rotten run at the plate, the Mets have posted a .607 winning percentage through 56 games and are 2.0 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in the NL and the division lead. And Soto has done his part to lift the team.

“He’s still helping us win games,” Stearns said of Soto. “I’m aware that the OPS isn’t where he would want it, it’s not where we would want it, it’s not where our fans would want it. I get that.  But I can say it’s not for lack of work behind the scenes, he’s working, he’s trying. He certainly wants results at a higher level than what we’ve seen so far. I’m pretty confident we’re going to get those.”

Mendoza said the one thing you can control as a hitter is “getting a good pitch, putting a good swing, and hitting the ball hard.”

“After that, you can’t control where they’re playing, how they’re positioned,” the manager said, adding, “you control the strike zone, which [Soto] is elite at doing that, and hitting the ball hard, which he’s elite at doing that, too.

“He’s just gotta stay the course, ‘cause if he keeps doing that, the numbers are gonna be there at the end of the year.”

A concern with Soto’s elite batting eye is the double-edged sword of patience: Is he too often taking a good pitch to hit?

“Part of elite plate discipline is swinging at pitches that you can do damage on… Are there at-bats where he’s let some pitches go where he could probably do some damage? Yeah, I think there probably are,” Stearns said. “I think as he gets more comfortable at the plate, he’ll be able to pull the trigger on those.”

Related to the issue of Soto’s increased ground-ball rate – up 8.9 percent to 52.5 percent for the 2025 season – has been double-plays as he has matched his total of 10 from last year in just y games.

Stearns sees it as a combination of the elevated number of ground balls, having a lot of players on base ahead of him (a 4.8 percent increase in at-bats with runners on compared to last year), and some well-documented “batted-ball misfortune.” But don’t expect that trend to last forever:  “We’re a third of the way through the season, he has 10 double plays, I would hammer the under on 30 double-plays over the course of the season.”

With the Mets entering a stretch of 16 games over 17 days beginning with games over the next 10 straight days, is there value in giving Soto a day off or could that be counterproductive? Those conversations have been had internally, Sterans said, and “we don’t know.”

“What we do know is that we have a player who is really competitive who wants to play,” Stearns said, noting Soto did get a day out of the lineup before on an off-day two weeks back. “But Juan wants to play. He wants to be out there, he wants to compete, he’s not shying away from this. And so I think sending him out there more often than not is probably the right thing to do.”

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