Juan Soto’s 2025 season is a New York Times best-selling series waiting to happen. He contributed a dramatic chapter in a huge home run night Wednesday, leading the New York Mets to a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Soto was at the forefront of the most transformative Mets’ offseason ever, landing the biggest contract in baseball history. He got off to a slow start that continued well into May, bringing the ire of many. Now, as New York experiences a free fall, he has risen with an outstanding June. Can Soto maintain his hot streak and pull the Mets out of the dregs?
Soto didn’t switch cities when he made his free agent choice; he switched boroughs. One would think that would make the transition easier, but he still had to adjust to being the highest-paid player. Most aren’t going to feel sorry for someone making $765 million, nor should they. There is a burden, though, with carrying the contract weight, especially if an athlete is more laid back like Soto.
Fan expectations rise with big acquisitions, and the larger the contract, the more insane the demands. A contingent existed that expected him to hit moon shots each time up, never make a mistake, and lead New York to victory every game. Failure couldn’t happen because he made so much money.
Soto maintained his excellent career walk rate and scored plenty of runs to start his Mets days. Lacking were home runs and runs batted in, as he finished April with two homers and 10 runs batted in. Walks and runs don’t capture the partisan attention like power jacks, so most assumed that he wasn’t doing anything. New York seemed to win in spite of him due to excellent pitching and a fantastic April by Pete Alonso.
Soto kicked off May with a two HR afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He hit three home runs in two games the following week against the Chicago Cubs and the Diamondbacks. A tear seemed in the works. Instead, five losses in a seven-game stretch followed.
The Mets have been a dreadful clutch-hitting team, ranking at or near the bottom in all categories. Soto is a very patient hitter, maybe too much so in runners in scoring position spots. He has gotten on base, but the hitters following have not executed. When he has come up with bases full, he has pressed and failed to drive runners home. This hit a nadir in Boston as New York scored one run in two games, closing their worst stretch up to that point.
The Mets held their own in two showdowns with the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning four of seven games. Soto hit a homer in the early June road games, helping New York gain a split. That stirred something in him as he feasted on the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals for six games, hitting .500 with two HRs, four RBI, and 10 runs scored.
The Mets closed the stretch with a six-game winning streak, improving their record to Major League Baseball’s best 45-24. They had a five-game lead over the National League East and a commanding 14 1/2 game edge over their archrival Atlanta Braves. Their pitching continued to perform magnificently, maintaining MLB’s best earned run average.
Kodai Senga strained his hamstring in the series finale against the Nationals while gaining a win and lowering his NL-best ERA to 1.47. New York seemed equipped to handle the loss due to its pitching depth.
The Senga domino led to others falling. Tylor Megill strained his elbow and went on the Injured List. Griffin Canning, one of free agency’s greatest bargains, hit a slump, allowing more than three runs in four out of his last five starts. The bullpen, so reliable most of the season, imploded, blowing a five-run lead against the Tampa Bay Rays and three-run leads twice against the Braves.
The Mets had only one losing streak of more than two games through the first two and a half months. Quality pitching kept New York from extended slumps and steered its climb to MLB’s best record. The Senga injury shook all that up as defeat after defeat occurred.
The Mets began the dreadful stretch with a five-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. It became a one-and-a-half game deficit going into Wednesday night. The Braves swept them in Atlanta and then won the first two games in New York. Tuesday night’s game was especially embarrassing as the Mets wasted an excellent season debut by Frankie Montas, blowing a three-run lead. New York was now 1-10 in their last 11 contests.
Lost in the Mets’ horrific play has been Soto’s best stretch by far of the season. During the last 12 games, he has six home runs and has knocked in ten runs. He has raised his slugging percentage over .500 and his on-base plus slugging percentage to .899. His tear continued Wednesday night.
New York fell to 0-5 in the season series against Atlanta on Tuesday. The Braves had just lost two of three to the dreadful Miami Marlins in the series before. It seemed like Atlanta could not lose to the Mets but was incapable of beating anyone else. New York needed this to change immediately.
On Wednesday, Soto took control of the game, working to shake the Mets’ mental funk against the Braves. He drilled a 413-foot power jack over center in the fourth, giving New York the lead. He clobbered a 396-foot blast over center in the seventh, giving the Mets their seventh and final run.
Soto ended the evening 2 for 4 with the two HRs and two RBI. In six games against Atlanta, he has four homers and five runs batted in. He is doing all he can to break New York free from the stranglehold the Braves have had on it.
Soto’s magnificence encourages others to follow suit. The six through nine hitters have been dreadful, doing nothing for weeks and playing a huge role in the Mets’ slump. Wednesday night, they showed up.
Ronny Mauricio accounted for New York’s first run in the third with a homer over right field. He went 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Brett Baty hit 2 for 4, scoring and knocking in a run as he played a critical role in multiple run-producing rallies.
The common perception is that Soto has had a difficult first year with the Mets. Many comparisons have been made to Carlos Beltran, who signed a huge contract with New York after an extraordinary 2024 playoffs run. He struggled in his first season, then followed with one of the best all-time Mets careers.
Soto is hitting .256 with 19 HRs and 45 RBI. He has scored 58 runs and walked 66 times. He is on pace for 38 home runs with 90 runs batted in, 116 runs scored, and 132 bases on balls. He has raised his batting average 30 points in a month, so getting it to the .270 to .280 range seems reasonable.
Soto is likely to push close to 40 homers, approach 100 RBI, and score well over 100 runs while finishing with a decent batting average. If he puts up these statistics in an “off” year and takes the career turn of Beltran, where the numbers kept getting better, New York fans, even as demanding as they are, will be very happy by contract’s end.
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