If Juan Soto wants to wear No. 22 with the Mets, that could be a very expensive ask.
Brett Batty currently wears No. 22 with the Amazons, and as a new member of the Mets, Soto would traditionally have a number-swap deal with Batty if he wanted that number with his new team.
But there may be more hurdles for Soto to clear if he has any chance of wearing No. 22 throughout his MLB career.
MLB is enforcing a little-known rule collective agreement To do this, you must request a player number change by July 31st of the previous season. If not, players will have to purchase existing inventory of items with older numbers.
The rule scuppered Twins star Joe Ryan's plans to give Carlos Santana No. 41 after Santana signed with Minnesota last offseason.
Follow The Post's coverage of Juan Soto's historic blockbuster deal with the Mets.
This regulation is set out in the Uniform Regulations section of Schedule 19 of the current CBA, which states: By July 31st of the year preceding the championship season in which the jersey number change becomes effective. ”
There are two exceptions to the rule allowing players to change their numbers after the deadline, one of which is if the player who previously wore that number changes teams.
The other is “if the player (or his representative) purchases existing finished goods inventory” with that number.
In the case of Ryan and Santana, MLB required Santana to pay the estimated value of all jerseys, caps, T-shirts and replica uniforms in licensed inventory and retail partners. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
That estimate equated to more than $225,000, and Santana did not ask for the figure to be changed.
The estimated cost if Soto and Batty were to swap numbers is unknown, but prices for Mets home replica jerseys start at $134 on MLB's website.
Soto's jersey, number 00, is already available for pre-order, which would avoid any problems if the Mets were to trade Batty.
However, baseball has been in great shape in recent years, and Carlos Correa told the Star Tribune that the reason he was stopped by MLB from trying to change his jersey number while he was in Houston was because the league wanted products with his number 1 on them. He said it was because there were too many.
When he signed with the Twins for the 2022 season, he changed to No. 4.
Former Yankee Gary Sanchez wanted to wear No. 24 after being traded to the Twins, but there was a problem.
This jersey number was worn by outfielder Trevor Larnach at the time, and MLB also got involved and tried to charge the players nearly $25,000 for merchandise, but the Twins objected and their lawyers got involved. As a result, the league withdrew its objection.
