Juan Soto signed a record 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets this past offseason. Spring training games have just gotten started and while they don’t count, there’s always going to be great fanfare when a player this caliber finally steps in the batter’s box with his new team.
Soto didn’t disappoint the Mets fans who gathered in Port St. Lucie’s Clover Park on Saturday. He went deep on a 2-1 pitch, homering off Astros lefty Colton Gordon. Take a look:
Though most of his home runs are pulled to right field, it was cool to see him hit one to left-center like that because Soto will use all fields (just check out the spray chart here).
We should stop short of saying something like, “that was the first of many!” because it wasn’t actually the first. The spring games are exhibitions and obviously don’t count. It was just a cool highlight and will stand to just make Mets fans that much more excited here in the spring.
Soto, 26, finished third in AL MVP voting last season with the Yankees. He hit .288/.419/.569 (178 OPS+) with 31 doubles, four triples, 41 homers, 109 RBI, 128 runs and 7.9 WAR. He’s a career .285/.421/.532 hitter and is the active leader in on-base percentage.
The Mets are coming off an 89-73 season that saw them make a miracle run to the NLCS. They come into 2025 as a title favorte and not an underdog.
