Juan Soto’s bat has an extra charge in it lately.
Soto, who has become more of a power hitter in New York than he was in Washington or San Diego, has six home runs in his past seven games (27 plate appearances) and eight in his past 12.
“It’s not much of a difference — I keep thinking to do damage every time,” Soto said Wednesday night after his first-inning solo home run gave the Mets a lead they never relinquished in a 4-2 win against the Reds. “The difference is the result. Sometimes I get the result, sometimes I don’t. I feel good. I’ve been seeing the ball well. I’ve been swinging the bat well.”
Soto missed two games — Sunday against the Marlins and Monday against the Reds — with a fever in the middle of his power surge. No big deal.
“He’s locked in,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s one of the best — if not the best — at what he does. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lefty or righty [pitcher]. We saw it on a breaking ball against a lefty. The compete, he’s just in the at-bat. The takes, the swings. He’s just a special player doing his thing.”
Soto only swings and misses 21.5 percent of the time — well above the major league average.
And that’s a good thing because Mendoza said he still feels some lingering wrist pain when he whiffs — but not on contact.
“He gets a little scared when he swings and misses, but it goes away,” Mendoza said.
“You see him hitting off the machine here before the game and he’s taking a lot of swings. It’s just when he swings and misses that he feels it. And he takes his time. We’ve seen it the past few days, and then it goes away.”
Soto is coming off back-to-back 40-home run seasons (84 total), with the Yankees in 2024 and Mets in 2025. He reached 30 twice in his first six seasons.
“I can’t control if it’s going over the wall or not,” Soto said. “But definitely I’m trying to put the ball in the gap and get on base any way so I can help the team.”
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Three of Soto’s 12 home runs this season have come in the first inning.
“Whoever punches first,” Soto said, “is always punching twice.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
