New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza says he will talk to Juan Soto about hustling out of the batter’s box after the slugger watched his would-be home run bounce off the Green Monster for a single on Monday night against the Boston Red Sox.
Leading off the sixth inning on a chilly night at Fenway Park with a 15 mph wind blowing in from left field, Soto hit a 102 mph line drive to left and stood watching as it sailed toward the Green Monster. The ball hit about two-thirds of the way up the 37ft wall, and Soto was only able to manage a single.
“He thought he had it,” Mendoza told reporters after his team’s 3-1 loss. “But with the wind and all that, and in this ballpark – anywhere, but in particular in this one, with that wall right there – you’ve got to get out of the box. So, yeah, we’ll discuss that.”
Soto stole second on the first pitch to the next batter, but the star ended up stranded on third. He denied lollygagging on the basepaths.
“I think I’ve been hustling pretty hard,” he said. “If you see it today, you can tell.”
Soto also attracted the ire of sections of the Mets fanbase over a similar play during their 8-2 loss to their cross-city rivals, the Yankees, on Sunday. In that game, Soto hit a ground ball up the middle and was slow out of the box before he was easily thrown out at first base by DJ LeMahieu in what may have been a close play if the slugger had moved at full speed.
It’s not uncommon for balls hit off the Green Monster to result in singles: In the first inning, Pete Alonso was thrown out trying for second base on a ball off the left-field wall. But Soto had also failed to run hard out of the box on a groundout Sunday night at Yankee Stadium.
“We’ll talk to him about it,” Mendoza said.
Soto has got off to a mixed start since signing an MLB record contract 15-year, $765m contract with the Mets. He is slashing .246/.376/.439, below his career average of .283/.419/.528. However, his OPS of .815 is still second-best among qualified Mets and 47th overall in MLB. The Mets (29-19) are also tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second-best record in the majors.
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