Regardless of the Mets’ recent struggles and inconsistencies on the field, Juan Soto is not a part of that conversation. Soto has been putting up elite numbers across the board for New York and officially made a new mark in his career, joining the pristine 30-30 club.
Soto had a known slow start to his first season with the Mets in all parts of his game from numbers at the plate to his overall mentality. Through April, Soto posted a .701 OPS but has been continuing to hit his way up as he started to get his fire back.
Since joining the Mets, Soto has added to his game through improving his baserunning element. The star right-fielder is stealing bases more rapidly than ever before in his career and reaching new statistical heights with the Mets. This improvement is largely credited to the Mets first-base coach, Antoan Richardson, who emphasized the importance of enhancing Soto’s capabilities as a baserunner. Soto has proven dominance in many areas in his game and work ethic, so it comes to no surprise to see Soto soar in a new stat category. As Soto grew more comfortable with his newfound and improved skill of baserunning, he took more aggression to stealing bases even further to see what possibilities could arise with the Mets.
“Definitely, a lot of hard work was put in since the beginning of the season,” said Soto on his new and improved baserunning. “Antoan has done an unbelievable job. He’s been helping me since Day 1. So I give him all the credit. He’s the one who put me in this situation and in this spot to do what I’ve done.”
On Tuesday, against the Philadelphia Phillies, Soto stole his 30th base, continuing to surge past his previous career-high of 12 stolen bases with the San Diego Padres in 2023. Nonetheless, Soto is the first player in the MLB this season to join the exclusive 30-30 club.
“Obviously this is a guy that you trust with the decision-making,” said manager Carlos Mendoza on Soto’s accomplishment. “It’s a big deal for him getting to 30 there, but if you ask him, he’s not about his own stats. He’s about winning – but the fact that he got to 30 is certainly impressive.”
For the first time in his career, Soto joined the 30-30 club. He becomes the fifth Met in this exclusive club joining Darryl Strawberry, Howard Johnson, David Wright and Francisco Lindor as the only Mets to produce a season of at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases. Furthermore, Soto currently has 38 home runs and 30 stolen bases which gives him a large chance of joining the even rarer 40-30 club. Only 15 players in MLB history have completed campaigns of this caliber, including seasons by Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr., etc. Joining this group would be the ultimate accomplishment for Soto and would place him in a new category in his career among some of the greats of the game.
CREDIT: @mets
Soto stands as the Mets’ most complete hitter, leading the team in OBP, runs scored and walks. Potentially, he is even one of the most complete hitters in the league. Soto’s power and baseball IQ is undeniable, but yet another valuable quality of the Mets right-fielder is the way he shows up for his team. Out of the Mets’ 145 games played so far this season, Soto has played in 143. Soto shows up and makes a difference for this Mets team that could only grow to have a greater impact as the playoffs get closer. Surpassing all of his individual statistics, Soto puts the success of the Mets first, making him an even more worthy player to New York’s star-studded roster.
To the delight of Mets fans, their right-fielder who’s worth $765 million has been a significant part of the Mets success this season with impressive stats on all sides of the game. As the Mets have battled with inconsistencies in the last few months, New York is still clinging to the last National League wild-card spot by two games over the San Francisco Giants as of Wednesday’s standings. With 17 games left to play in the regular season, Soto has a strong chance to become the first player with a 40-30 season in Mets history to make his first campaign in Queens that much more memorable.