Juan Soto receives words of wisdom from Mets royalty to live up to $765M contract

Juan Soto's start to his New York Mets career, following a career-best season with cross-town rivals, the New York Yankees, has not lived up to the expectations of fans.

The Dominican outfielder is batting .241 for the season with three home runs and 12 RBIs. While Soto's start has been underwhelming, his MLB record of $765 million has not done any favors either, attracting criticism from analysts and rival fans.

Mets legend and three-time World Series winner, Darryl Strawberry has a word of advice for Soto amidst the All-Star slugger's struggles at the plate for his new team in 2025.

In a conversation with Jay Horwitz on the Mets' YouTube channel, the three-time World Series winner said (13:00 onwards):

"I've been there and done that (on starting the season poorly). I've done it many times, so many times, but I finished it. It's not how you start, It's how you finish. He's gonna be where he needs to be, you know, he's got 15 years.

"You got a long-term marriage; It's not a short-term thing; you don't want to get divorced in one year, right? So give the guy a break and let him get accustomed to this here. And then, once he gets accustomed to all that, it'll take care of itself."

Strawberry also feels the terms of his contract are drawing most of the criticism. However, the Mets legend had a word of advice for the Dominican star.

"You got to learn how to have fun in this game, and you got to really don't take everything personally, and I think sometimes if you take it personally, it's going to eat you up, and I just never took that way."

Darryl Strawberry backed Juan Soto's decision to sign with Mets

While Juan Soto's decision to joins the Mets in his free agency last offseason raised a few eyebrows, given his allegiance with the Yankees last season,. Darryl Strawberry welcomed it.

Strawberry, who played for both teams during his illustrious career, believed it was the right decision by Soto to sign for the Mets.

“It was good for him to make the decision to play here because now he’s not going to be behind anybody,’’ Strawberry said. “Juan Soto with the Mets, yeah, you have [Francisco] Lindor, who’s great, but if you play over there [with the Yankees] with a guy like [Aaron] Judge, you’re never gonna be bigger than him.”

Despite Juan Soto not hitting the ground running for the Mets, the NL East holds the best record this season, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash