Port St. Lucy – His goal has been achieved as Juan Soto prepares to close out his first spring training in the Mets uniform.
He is in shape.
His swing is where he wants it.
He became part of the team.
“My body feels really good. I'm in a good place,” Soto posted on Saturday. “I'm feeling well so I feel good starting the season.”
For the second year in a row, his debut with a new team will be in Houston.
Last season, Soto played his first game with the Yankees at Minute Maid Park, reaching base three times to help his team win.
He's already beginning to think about what Thursday will bring.
“The first day with another team,” he said. “I'm happy to be a part of it, and I hope it will happen all year round.”
Soto has been home to his first plate appearance this spring and has not taken his feet off the accelerator. It was like a dress rehearsal the Mets might have expected after arriving in December on a record 15-year, $765 million contract.
This spring he owns a .306/.409/.694 slash line with four homers leading the team and nine RBIs.
Behind the scenes, the 26-year-old outfielder has been living up to his reputation.
“He's checking everything because he's seeing all the incredible things he's done in the game and he's doing all the little things,” Pete Alonso said. “He's very consistent in his work whether it's in the weight room, in the training room, in the cage or not. A thought process of getting better every day. Just seeing his work and working on his business every day, that makes me think.
“And that's great, because I've received how good he's in the last six years I've been here. He's one of those people who can change the game anytime.”
Soto was asked to take him back from his first spring training with the club.
“Coaching is a big coach, a staff member and it's the way they've been treating me. I think that's a big deal for me,” Soto said.
In the clubhouse and field, gravity pull on young Soto players is hard to overlook. One of those players, Brett Baty, enjoys breakout springs where the locker adjacent to Soto is positioned to become the team's starting second baseman in Jeff McNeill's absence.
Earlier in the camp, he received a $92,000 vehicle from SOTO, the same as receiving Jersey No. 22 as a gift to abandon him.
“That's incredible [Baty] Soto said.
Francisco Lindor's bats were quiet this spring, but the other Mets' cornerstones impressed Soto with his work ethic.
“I think the way he does his thing is impressive,” Soto said. “How much he works, how much he puts on it.”
According to Starling Marte, Soto's presence was prominent.
“I think when these young players can talk to people like that, whether it's about controlling the strike zone or talking about baseball,” Marte said.
Alonso, four years older than Soto, made his major league debut in the season after an All-Star outfielder, but said it's easy to mistake Soto for someone much older.
“This is because it's his seventh or eighth year,” Alonso said. “Well, he's been around for a long time, but he's only 26” People think he's older than him. ”
