{"id":57791,"date":"2025-05-26T22:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T22:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57791"},"modified":"2025-05-26T22:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T22:17:09","slug":"yankees-legend-watched-mets-juan-soto-closely-his-emotion-and-swagger-are-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57791","title":{"rendered":"Yankees legend watched Mets\u2019 Juan Soto closely: His emotion and \u2018swagger\u2019 are lost"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u2019s performance wasn\u2019t enough to quiet the noise around him.<\/p>\n

In Saturday\u2019s 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\u2019s 3-1 win, Soto did everything but hit. Soto\u2019s hustle to reach first base and force an error in the first inning preceded Pete Alonso\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Still, Soto went 2 for 14 in the series, underscoring his struggles, mindset and bad luck at the plate. ESPN analysts Eduardo P\u00e9rez and David Cone, both former players, utilized the \u201cBaseball Tonight\u201d podcast to explain what\u2019s going on with the Mets\u2019 $765 million man.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that I\u2019m still concerned about is can he and will he, and when will he \u2014 because he will \u2014 hit the fastball,\u201c Perez said on Monday\u2019s episode. \u201dHe\u2019s still swinging and missing on pitches in the zone on the fastball. He\u2019s still in between. We saw a couple check swings. That\u2019s very unlike Juan Soto.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what that tells me is there\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019m saying right now are most likely also in his head. And that\u2019s not a really great place to be. Fortunately for him, he understands what a strike is. He\u2019s got great hand-eye coordination and, oh, he\u2019s Juan Soto, a lifetime .944 ops coming into this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cone, the former Yankees and Mets pitching great, recalled his days in pinstripes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d Cone said. \u201cHe still managed the heartbeat of the player.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what\u2019s going on with Juan Soto. It\u2019s the heartbeat. It\u2019s emotional. There\u2019s no question about it. That\u2019s what leads to the confidence in the batter\u2019s box. That leads to the lack of the Soto shuffle. That\u2019s just feeling it, and that\u2019s clearly emotional. That\u2019s the human element that\u2019s going on with him. And I don\u2019t know how you work through that. That\u2019s something he\u2019s going to have to figure out himself. He\u2019s got a good support group around him that is going to give him everything he needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut bottom line is, Juan Soto\u2019s got to feel it emotionally. And until he does, we\u2019re not going to see the same old swagger that we\u2019re used to seeing from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s way in order to praise him during the weekend.<\/p>\n

Soto is batting .236 with a .777 OPS (123 OPS+). He has eight home runs and 24 RBIs.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll have a good chance to break out of his funk in the Mets\u2019 series that starts Monday against the Chicago White Sox, who have a 4.10 ERA as a team (21st in the majors).<\/p>\n

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