QUEENS, NY — There was a little bit of extra pep in Juan Soto’s step as he rounded first base, realizing that the 3-1, middle-middle fastball from Atlanta Braves reliever Austin Cox that he jumped on and sent 396 feet to right-center field had cleared center fielder Michael Harris’ glove and the fence.
He bounced off the bag and even pumped his fist a few uncharacteristic times on his way to second before finishing his trot in his more trademark even-keeled fashion.
Soto’s seventh-inning blast was his second of Wednesday night’s 7-3 victory over the Braves, giving the 26-year-old an MLB record 27th career multi-home run game, which broke the previous record held by the legendary Jimmie Foxx.
“I know what I was chasing in that at-bat,” Soto said. “When I saw the ball go, I felt really emotional right there. We were still winning the game, helping the team, and kept increasing the lead. But when you look back at what I did and what I’ve been doing these past years, I think that’s really special for me.”
Nights like this have felt like the norm over Soto’s first seven years in the majors with the Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres, and crosstown rival Yankees. He has long been established as one of the elite young offensive talents in the game and is well on his way toward the Hall of Fame.
But following his historic, record-shattering free-agent signing with the Mets in December, which inked him to a 15-year, $765 million deal, the production failed to follow him to Queens, even though he was continuing to hit the ball hard at an elite rate.
Through his first 56 games, he was batting .224 with a .745 OPS. He was getting met with a smattering of boos from the impatient corners of Citi Field.
Yet Soto stayed within himself. His meticulous preparations remained steadfast; there were no major adjustments nor outbursts decrying his struggles. His answer on Wednesday night to a question about what changes he has made this season remains the boilerplate:
“I haven’t made any major difference,” Soto said. “I just trust in my routine, doing my stuff, and try to do damage… I’ve been feeling the same way all the way. Feeling myself, trying to help the team in any way I can. It’s the way it is. It’s just baseball. Sometimes you’re going to be lucky, sometimes you won’t.”
Take a couple of minutes and look back at some of his postgame interviews where he talks about his approach or how he feels at the plate, and this is what you will get every time.
That is nearly impossible to find in the majors.
“Just watching him go about his business day in and day out, how steady he is with his personality,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza began. “The same guy that we saw early in the year, when it seemed like the world was coming to an end because Juan Soto wasn’t hitting, he’s the same guy that we’re seeing right now. Back then, he didn’t get too low. Right now, he’s not too high. That, for me and for all of us, is pretty impressive to see that type of consistency.”
“It literally feels like every at-bat is the same,” starting pitcher Clay Holmes, who spent last year with Soto in the Bronx, added. “He’s a guy who walks so much, and when he swings, there’s a barrel almost every time. Even from Game 1 of the season, it still felt to me that it’s the same exact at-bats. That consistency is that he knows what he’s able to do and how he would just do it every single time.”
While the baseball world waited with baited, overreactive breath on when the hits would start coming, Soto let it all come to him. After posting just two multi-home-run games in his first 76 outings this season, he has a pair of two-homer games in his last five.
“I just try to hit it a little harder,” he joked. “Try to find those gaps, try to find those holes. The cold weather is gone, so I can have fun now.”
Soto’s numbers have indeed heated up with the weather. He is having a monstrous and historic June, batting .333 with 10 home runs, 18 RBI, 22 runs, and 23 walks. No other player in Mets franchise history has had a calendar month in which he hit 10 home runs with 20 runs and 20 walks.
Perhaps he knew something some of us did not want to admit. But level-headedness is not for everyone, and it is something that Soto has perfected over his eight big-league seasons.
“For me, you keep learning every day, since Day 1, little by little, how to develop it, and going from there,” Soto said. “That’s just part of it. Since the first day, it’s never been the same. Every day, I learn something new. Even right now, I’m still learning. It’s part of the game.”
On Wednesday night, he also learned that he became the 15th different Met to have at least one month with 10 or more home runs, joining a list littered with the franchise’s very best, ranging from David Wright to Mike Piazza, to Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter.
“It’s been great. I think it’s starting to happen,” Soto said. “My swing, everything is going the right way.”
This all carries the fond expectancy of what baseball normally provides: unfettered optimism that usualy springs eternal come April. But the initial rollercoaster of Soto’s first season in Queens, which has provoked nearly every emotion from those bloviating upon a disrespected perch, has made up just 3% of his contract.
Yes, this really is only just the beginning of a new era for the Mets, and while things are on the cusp of changing dramaticatically for a formerly downtrodden franchise, Soto will continue to be his same, even-keeled self.
“That’s what you pay a ticket to go watch a baseball game for,” Mendoza said. “To see something like that, it’s a show. You pay to watch this guy get up to the plate and put together a big-league at-bat. His presence, as a fan, I’d put my shoes on and I’d be watching every game from the stands, too. You don’t see that too often.”
