Juan Soto has worn the No. 22 for the entirety of his seven-year MLB career. After signing his massive contract with the New York Mets, the 26-year-old found himself in a predicament given that Mets third baseman Brett Baty was the owner of the No. 22 jersey.
The new teammates worked a deal out in the form of a new $80,000 SUV going into the garage of Baty and the double-deuce digits going on the back of Soto’s New York jersey.
The Mets shared a video of Baty being surprised with his brand-new, blacked-out Chevrolet Tahoe with ‘Thanks for #22’ written across the back windshield.
“I really appreciate the number,” Soto can be heard saying in the video. “It’s the first one I ever wore.”
Baty switched from the No. 22 to No. 7 shortly after Soto officially signed with the Mets, but the new face of the franchise clearly wanted to show his appreciation, and giving away a new car is certainly a nice way of doing that.
Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets in December 2024. Some quick math shows that $80,000 purchase cost Soto about .01% of his salary.
Soto will enter his first season as a Met fresh off of a one-year stop with the New York Yankees where he hit a career-high 41 HR and drove in 109 runs for the second-consecutive year.
The Mets are the fourth team Soto has played for, and could very well be his last given his contract that technically spans an entire decade and a half.
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