Since moving across town from the Bronx to Queens, the Juan Soto hype really hasn’t lived up to expectations. Make no mistake, a struggling Soto is still a vast improvement over most other players. But after hitting .288/.419/.569/.989 with 41 long balls for the New York Yankees, Soto is off to a sobering start. Since dawning a New York Mets cap, he is slashing .250/.400/.429/.829 with two home runs entering Tuesday — a stark contrast from the previous set of stats.

But Soto’s stats aren’t the biggest problem here. When star players address their underperformances, they usually blame their approach, whether they aren’t seeing the ball right, if there’s an adjustment that needs to be made, etc. Soto, on the other hand, blames the Mets. He had this to say when discussing his apparent struggles with the New York Post:

“It’s definitely different. I had the best hitter in baseball hitting behind me. I was getting more attacked and more pitches in the strike zone, less intentional walks and things like that. I was pitched differently last year.”

Ouch. After netting a $765 million payday, comments like these won’t make Mets fans happy. While no one can really dispute that Aaron Judge is the best hitter in the sport, the team around Soto is certainly no slouch. Judge himself had the best response.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Aaron Judge fires back at Juan Soto’s excuses

Upon hearing Soto’s complaints, Judge responded with a rather evident observation. Judge had this to say:

“I’m not going to go back-and-forth with this …. He’s got one of the best hitters in the game hitting behind him in Alonso.”

Like with Judge, having Alonso hitting behind Soto should be a distinct luxury. A frequent flyer in the 40-home run club, Alonso is currently hitting .345 with four home runs. If the Polar Bear’s performance has done anything, it has nullified Soto’s argument. Regardless of who is hitting behind him, much of Soto’s stardom is owed to his ability to draw walks at an unbelievable rate. If his argument is that pitchers are avoiding him, then his reasoning was never really valid in the first place.

Either way, it seems Soto would be better off settling into his new role. If he is the team’s new headliner, he can’t say he relies on a hitter better than himself to guard him. Soto was a star-caliber player before his one-year stint with the Yankees. It would seem he needs to return to the basics that made him a star in the first place: take his pitches and do damage when the opportunity arises.