Steve Cohen isn’t fretting over Juan Soto’s gradual begin to his Mets tenure, saying on Monday that “I’m not worried about Juan” whereas praising different issues the $765 million man has been doing on the plate to date.
Soto’s lack of energy via the primary full month of the season has caught some individuals’s consideration after the Mets signed him to an enormous contract this previous winter.
Soto, who went 2-for-4 within the 19-5 win over the Nationals on Monday, has simply three dwelling runs on the season and hadn’t knocked a ball out of the park since April 15.
However Cohen, who spoke with The Publish’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman on the most recent episode of “The Show” that was printed on Monday, spoke extremely of the “subtle” issues that Soto has carried out on the plate which have helped the Mets.
“The way that he works a count, makes pitchers throw extra pitches really matters. Then he gets on base, and then Pete [Alonso] can drive him in. And so Pete’s seen better pitches,” Cohen mentioned. “It’s very refined how that works and also you simply can’t simply have a look at it in a really slender sense. And saying that, pay attention, I’m not nervous about Juan.
“I mean, he is singularly focused on baseball, he’s a pure hitter and let’s have this discussion at the end of the year.”
Soto was hitting .248/.374/.396 with a .770 OPS going into Monday, however was coming off a weekend the place he had a pair of hits on Sunday and Friday towards the Nats and reached base 4 occasions in Sunday’s 8-7 loss.
Even with Soto’s gradual begin, the Mets have come out of the gate red-hot this season with an MLB-best 20-9 document and profitable 9 of their previous 11 video games. And, as of Monday, the 1986 Mets had been solely two video games higher than this 12 months’s model of the Amazin’s on the identical level of the season.
Nonetheless, all through Mets historical past, sustained success has been arduous to return by — they’ve solely made the postseason in consecutive years twice in franchise historical past — and has led to a cautious angle from Mets followers.
Cohen understood the historical past that Mets followers carry with them, however in a agency tone, he mentioned that the previous was one thing he “couldn’t care less about.”
“It’s irrelevant to me. It means nothing, OK,” he mentioned. “This is a new regime, a new management, new beliefs in how we operate, and I like the direction we’re going in. And a lot of great people in this organization. We still have a ways to go to continue building the infrastructure. Doesn’t happen just in a couple of years, but we’re definitely making progress and I think you’re seeing it.”
It might appear any a part of sustained success for the Mets will embrace Alonso, who might be a free agent after this season and has began off the 2025 season as scorching because the group, hitting .333/.451/.646.
Cohen informed Sherman and Heyman that Alonso would discover the market on the finish of the 12 months, which he mentioned he was “supportive of,” and that the ballclub would “see where it goes.”
“He’s a great Met, and I said this last year, if we can work it out, we’ll work it out, but he’s going to go explore his market, and you know that’s his right,” the Mets proprietor mentioned. “It’s hard to know how those things work out. I know we’re happy with him. I believe he’s happy to be a Met and that’s a good place to start in any future discussions.”
