Outfielder Juan Soto joined the New York Mets this offseason as a four-time All-Star who earned a World Sequence ring and 5 Silver Slugger Awards earlier than he put pen to paper on a 15-year, $765M contract that might reportedly exceed $800M whole and included a $75M signing bonus, an opt-out after 5 years and no deferred cash.
Many already view Soto as a generational expertise, however the 26-year-old made it recognized whereas talking with reporters on Sunday that he feels he can enhance “each facet of my sport” forward of and through his first season with the Mets.
“The working half is large for me,” Soto defined, as shared by Alex Smith of SNY. “I’ve to be higher baserunning and preserve bettering my protection. I’ve been so shut for the Gold Glove, so I attempt to be higher day by day, yearly, so I can get nearer and nearer to that.”
In fact, the Mets can be in search of Soto to be greater than only a dynamic all-around participant after he inked his historic deal. Curiously, one unnamed Nationwide League scout steered again in December that the Amazins may have someone reminiscent of unofficial staff captain Francisco Lindor or slugger Pete Alonso “to maintain Soto in line.” Truthful or not, a notion sparked by such a take is that Soto could lack management qualities usually desired for someone on such a large contract.
“I realized a variety of issues [from former teammates],” Soto mentioned on Sunday. “I can’t even inform what number of issues these guys have [taught] me. However quite a bit was management, the right way to be a pacesetter in that clubhouse in your individual manner. …They taught me the right way to do it in my very own manner. Not solely that, however by the sport and the way you deal with your self on and off the sphere, there are such a lot of issues these guys have been in a position to educate me and present me the right way to deal with myself.”
Roughly 12 months in the past, some members of the baseball neighborhood thought the Mets have been basically punting on the 2024 marketing campaign following what was seen as a quite uninspiring offseason. The membership in the end accomplished a visit to the Nationwide League Championship Sequence, the place New York fell to the eventual World Sequence champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Mets tied for fourth among the many betting favorites at +1200 odds to win this 12 months’s Fall Basic. Evidently, the expectation is that Soto will assist the Mets finish their 38-year World Sequence drought sooner quite than later.
“I really feel like guys could be a chief in numerous methods,” Soto mentioned concerning the strain related to being the highest-paid participant on a staff that performs dwelling video games within the nation’s largest sports activities market. “I’m simply going to maintain being myself, preserve being who I’m and attempt to lead my manner. I’m not going to alter something, I’m going to maintain being the identical man. That’s what they introduced me over for, to be the identical man I’ve been since day one.”
