Juan Soto is right. He no longer is hitting in front of Aaron Judge — “the best hitter in baseball,” in Soto’s estimation. And he no longer is “getting more attacked and more pitches in the strike zone.”
The sentiments Soto shared in an exclusive interview with colleague Mike Puma are correct. Especially with men on base, Soto is not seeing a heck of a lot to hit. The timing, though, is terrible — at the outset of a long marriage, and with the Mets winning despite Soto’s meh performance.
Soto is sharp. He had to understand that accepting Steve Cohen’s $765 million offer meant Judge was gone and a higher level of scrutiny was present. And keep in mind that he had 3,375 regular-season plate appearances in his career prior to teaming with Judge and had assembled a portfolio that made him one of the best hitters through age 24 in MLB history — one good enough for the Yankees to pay big in a trade to acquire. Plus, pressure has never seemed to phase him as much as elevate him (go look at his playoff performance).
Soto is a great, big-game proven hitter in his prime who, entering the weekend, had played just 19 games as a Met. In his first 19 games last season — even with Soto persistently on base in front of him — Judge hit .193 with a .710 OPS. And Judge went on to win his second AL MVP. Last Aug. 17-Sept. 7, with the Yankees dueling the Orioles for the AL East lead and Judge thriving behind him, Soto produced a .222 average, .778 OPS and two homers in 19 games, or not much different from the .221, .773 and three homers through 19 games this year. It went unnoticed because, as opposed to the beginning of a schedule, it just blended into a long season.
