Juan Soto didn’t dwell on a lackluster start in April. In fact, he kicked off May with two home runs against Arizona, which helped him climb into the top 20 of the National League for OPS-Plus.
Even though that first month as a Met was challenging, Soto still demonstrated solid judgment at the plate. There were no urgent alarms going off, and comparisons to George Foster’s struggles felt a bit exaggerated.
I mean, he’s Juan Soto, after all. At just 26, it’s worth noting that he had some pretty impressive offensive stats in New York last year. In San Diego, he played 29 games in April and managed a .174 batting average, marked by a high 58.8% ground ball rate.
Once May rolled around, though, Soto really turned things around. His ground ball percentage dropped significantly to 49.6% for the remainder of the year, and his batting average against runners improved to .299. Sure, it raised a few eyebrows with such a slow start, especially after landing a blockbuster 15-year, $765 million deal. But honestly, there’s been nothing yet to warrant major concern.
