Right fielder Juan Soto played an instrumental part in helping the New York Mets win two of three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but this past weekend’s performance wasn’t enough to quiet the noise around him.

In Saturday’s 5-2 win, Soto launched a two-run double that hit the top of the Citi Field wall to break a 2-2 tie. Then, in Sunday’s 3-1 win, Soto did everything but hit. Soto’s hustle to reach first base and force an error in the first inning preceded Pete Alonso’s two-run home run; he stole a base after negating a double play in the third inning and he made a running catch on a ball hit over his head to preserve a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning.

Still, Soto went 2 for 14 in the series, underscoring his struggles, mindset and bad luck at the plate. ESPN analysts Eduardo Pérez and David Cone, both former players, utilized the “Baseball Tonight” podcast to explain what’s going on with the Mets’ $765 million man.

“The thing that I’m still concerned about is can he and will he, and when will he — because he will — hit the fastball,“ Perez said on Monday’s episode. ”He’s still swinging and missing on pitches in the zone on the fastball. He’s still in between. We saw a couple check swings. That’s very unlike Juan Soto.

“And what that tells me is there’s a lot of things going on in that head as he is preparing to be able to get the load and get ready to hit. Is it that he’s starting a little bit late? It could be. Is it that his hands are a little bit too low? They could be. But all the things that I’m saying right now are most likely also in his head. And that’s not a really great place to be. Fortunately for him, he understands what a strike is. He’s got great hand-eye coordination and, oh, he’s Juan Soto, a lifetime .944 ops coming into this game.”

Cone, the former Yankees and Mets pitching great, recalled his days in pinstripes.

“It just reminds me of what my ex-manager Joe Torre used to talk about a lot. And he was around it sort of at the end of his career, when analytics started to come into the game and make a big play and all the information in the big data era. He still wanted to talk about the heartbeat,” Cone said. “He still managed the heartbeat of the player.

“And that’s what’s going on with Juan Soto. It’s the heartbeat. It’s emotional. There’s no question about it. That’s what leads to the confidence in the batter’s box. That leads to the lack of the Soto shuffle. That’s just feeling it, and that’s clearly emotional. That’s the human element that’s going on with him. And I don’t know how you work through that. That’s something he’s going to have to figure out himself. He’s got a good support group around him that is going to give him everything he needs.

“But bottom line is, Juan Soto’s got to feel it emotionally. And until he does, we’re not going to see the same old swagger that we’re used to seeing from him.”

ESPN MLB reporter Buster Olney said on the episode that he respected how the Mets handled the situation, with manager Carlos Mendoza (Saturday) and shortstop Francisco Lindor (Sunday) intentionally shifting their converations Soto’s way in order to praise him during the weekend.

Soto is batting .236 with a .777 OPS (123 OPS+). He has eight home runs and 24 RBIs.

He’ll have a good chance to break out of his funk in the Mets’ series that starts Monday against the Chicago White Sox, who have a 4.10 ERA as a team (21st in the majors).

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