PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Juan Soto grew bored.
One of the New York Mets’ early spring training batting practices featured a star-studded group: Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Soto.
For several minutes, the session went how they always go. They practiced hitting in specific situations. They practiced hitting balls in the air. They practiced hitting balls toward certain directions.
Zzzz.
Looking to spice things up, Soto called out to the group, “All right. Last round.”
Soto then delivered directions for a competition. They’d see who could hit the most line drives. The catch: Home runs didn’t count. In fact, anything hit over the fence was an out. That’s where Soto’s game differed from others; most of the time in these player-run contests, they’re looking for home runs.
Juan Soto stirs up the action around Mets camp and believes it’s OK to combine work with fun. (Gordon Donovan / Associated Press)
With a fresh challenge in front of them, the three other players wore huge grins as each took their turn entering the batter’s box. They all traded fun-spirited verbal jabs with one another. It was on.
“You had these guys who are all extremely good, veteran guys going back to being the 10-year-olds on the sandlot competing against each other,” Nimmo said. “It brings the best out of you.”
Several days later, the players were still beaming when they recalled the scene. For them, it showed Soto’s leadership style. For Soto? He says he was just being himself.
“It’s about trying to bring everybody together and do what we do with a purpose, be out there, do things the right way and do it because we want to accomplish something,” he said.
Fun vibes defined the Mets’ success last year. They advanced to the National League Championship Series. Hungry for more, they added Soto. He is the 26-year-old newcomer, a megastar accompanied by a 15-year, $765 million contract, the largest ever in sports history.
Already, the Mets are Soto’s fourth team. Ask anyone on the Mets, though, and they’ll say Soto has already fit in — even quicker than some, including Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, said they thought he would. There’s a reason for that.
For the first time since rejecting an extension offer from the Washington Nationals a few years ago, Soto doesn’t have to wonder if he will be in the same place next year. He’s not going anywhere. With the Mets, Soto can get comfortable.
“Everybody knows how it’s going to be, for how long I am going to be in place, that relaxes you a little bit more,” Soto said. “It doesn’t mean you’re not going to keep working and not keep putting yourself in the best spot going into the season. Definitely, it’s helpful to know where you’re going to be.
“Even when I was with the Padres, I was working out that offseason and I was like, ‘What are you guys going to do? Are you going to trade me?’ At the beginning, they said I was going to be the third-hole hitter for the next season. And then from nowhere, they said, no, you’re going to be traded. That’s one of the things that makes you think, ‘OK, now I am going to a new place, how is it going to be? … It’s going to be tough to get comfortable.’
“But now that you know where you’re going to be for the next 15 years, it’s just a different feeling.”
When observing him around the batting cage, in the dugout and at his locker, a few of Soto’s teammates referred to him having “a great presence.”
“I like how at peace he is,” Lindor said.
Added catcher Luis Torrens, “Really, he’s just a regular guy.”
In one game last week, Soto huddled with five other Mets players — Starling Marte, Francisco Alvarez, Jose Siri, Alex Ramirez and Luis De Los Santos — in the corner of the dugout. Soto had one arm draped around Marte’s back, the other around De Los Santos’ back. At an apparent inside joke, the group shared a laugh, over and over again.
“The only thing I could say about that,” Soto said with a smile, “is we were learning from an old player. But we cannot say what we were talking about.”
The key here is that Soto is already “inside” enough to be part of the inside jokes. His voice should only continue to grow. Two of the Mets’ main clubhouse leaders are Nimmo and Lindor. So far, they appreciate what they see from Soto’s style.
Lindor’s perspective: “Because of his contract and because of his track record, people are going to gravitate toward him because people gravitate toward success; it pulls you. So he’s not trying to do something different. He’s trying to be himself. And that leads to becoming a leader by example. I’m not sure if he wants to be a leader. But naturally he grows into that. For me, that’s one of the best attributes a leader can have — when you’re not forcing it.”
Nimmo’s perspective: “He is not super eccentric. He’s not going to be one of those guys that’s like yelling all the time in here, talking a ton. He is a little bit more on the reserved side. He leads by example really, really well so far from what I’ve seen in camp. He’s an extremely hard worker. We already know how talented he is. Then you see the way he goes about his business.”
Soto led by example when he turned something as mundane as batting practice into something fun.
“That,” Mets co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said, “is amazing.”
For emphasis, Barnes repeated that word — amazing — two more times before expounding on his thought.
“That’s the kind of stuff that is special coming from players,” Barnes said. “There’s mechanical talk and all that kind of stuff, yeah. But players pushing each other and competing and creating that culture of making it fun? I think it’s great. Sometimes it’s so pressure-filled out here. We lose sight that we’re playing a game.”
It helps to be reminded.
“And you get a read on how guys respond to the crap talking and the competition and just challenging each other,” Nimmo said. “That’s good to have in camp. You want the ability to be able to test each other.”
At that moment, Soto said, he didn’t even realize the idea for the competition could be seen as an act of leadership. He said he really was just bored. But he also appreciates the value of having fun while at work.
For Soto, having fun usually involves winning.
“Him and Francisco (Lindor) are very similar in that way,” Nimmo said. “It’s this competitive drive to want to be the best at whatever you do. It’s something you see from the greats like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. They want to beat you.”
Turns out, even in trash talking. Lindor is generally viewed as the club’s best trash talker. Soto isn’t convinced.
“He’s got to get better,” Soto said in a deadpan manner. “He’s not the best I’ve ever heard. He’s good at it. But he needs to get better.”
Told of Soto’s opinion and asked to compare his trash-talking ability to Soto’s, an incredulous Lindor said with a wide smile, “He hasn’t even opened up like that yet.”
Now that’s something that may require a little more time.
“When he does say something, Juan will tell you exactly the way it is and back it up,” Nimmo said. “But being around him, he mostly strikes me as the type of personality that is, speak softly, carry a big stick.”
(Top photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
