Juan Soto has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for the New York Mets lately.
After going 1-for-10 in his return to Yankee Stadium over the weekend, the superstar outfielder and the Mets’ offense were again ice cold as they dropped their series opener against the Boston Red Sox on Monday, 3-1.
While New York’s offensive woes may be the primary focus of their loss to the Red Sox, primarily since they have scored just 10 runs over their last seven games, Soto’s lack of hustle on the bases was again on display. After not running hard out of the batter’s box on a ground ball during Sunday’s game against the Yankees, Soto made another lackluster effort on the bases.
Soto led off the top of the sixth inning for New York and crushed a fly ball to left field that at first seemed like it would be a home run. However, a home run at Fenway Park in left field is no guarantee, as Soto’s ball hit off the Green Monster. After realizing the ball stayed in the yard, Soto had to settle for a long single and was ultimately left stranded.
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Even though Soto made up for that baserunning miscue by stealing second, manager Carlos Mendoza broke his silence about his outfielder’s recent lack of hustle running around the bases.
“We’ll talk to him about it,” Mendoza said. “He thought he had it, in this ballpark with that wall right there, you gotta get out of the box. We’ll discuss that.”
Even though this was the first time we had heard Mendoza publicly discuss Soto’s baserunning, the four-time All-Star does not see it as a current issue.
“I think I’ve been hustling pretty hard. If you see it today, you could tell,” Soto told reporters after the game.
With Soto clearly not taking any issue with how he’s been running around the bases over the last two games for the Mets, it certainly sounds like Mendoza will be giving Soto a much-needed talk about his baserunning miscues.
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