“Juan Soto’s human!” - MLB analyst defends Mets’ $765M superstar, pushes back on early struggles talk amid postseason rush

Juan Soto needed time to settle into his new club, but once he found his groove with the New York Mets, he has shown that he is the MVP-caliber player they locked up for the next 15 years for a mammoth $765 million contract.

Juan Soto had 27 RBIs and 9 home runs through the first two months of the season. He batted .241 in March and April and a disappointing .219 in May. On the Michael Kay Show, a caller made his opinions known about Juan Soto's overall performance, claiming that he should have been more 'clutch' at the beginning of the year.

The Mets were the best team in baseball on June 12, holding a 45-24 record. But since then, they have dropped 45 games and now sit just 2.0 games above the NL Wild Card positions. Kay argued that the Mets' lack of form cannot be attributed to Soto's incompetence because he has been the best player on the team.

"I understand that he's a polarizing figure because he's the biggest contract in North American sports history," Kay said (12:32 onwards). "I get it. But he has done his part. So when he was struggling with runners in scoring position in the first part of the season, they had the best record in baseball. He did not impact the team adversely.

And since they've been struggling, he has been money. He's been great. I'm not going to put any of the blame on Soto. I'm not. You have to look at the end of the year and look at the numbers and say, "Well, what did he do?" He's done a lot. He's been great. He's going to be in the top four or five in the MVP. What more do you want from the guy?"

Juan Soto did have damaging numbers with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP). He had in April a.174 BA, .634 OPS with RISP, in May a .087 BA, .356 OPS, and in June, when he put up strong overall numbers, a .182 BA, .812 OPS. But July and August were elite as the 26-year-old compiled figures of .292 BA, .993 OPS, and .391 BA, 1.236 OPS, respectively. This prompted Michael Kay to state his opinion further.

"Just because you pay him $45 million doesn't mean he gets to be Superman," Kay added. "He's human. He has bodily fluids just like all of us. And I think he's had a terrific year. Despite the tough start, despite the fact that he was kind of miserable at the beginning, not miserable anymore."

Pete Alonso comes to Juan Soto's defense

On The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman, Mets infielder Pete Alonso called the criticism meted out towards Soto's first half of the season as unfair.

"For me, I just see that he loves ball. Like, that's it. He lives, breathes, eats baseball. The amount of locked-in focus he has been the same every single day," Alonso said.

"You look at his first half, it's like, he could have easily been an All-Star and selected... but I definitely don't think the down year thing that people were saying was fair, because it wasn't. That's just how great he is."

Soto could achieve 100 RBIs, 100 runs, 40 homers, 30 stolen bases, and 100 walks in his first season with the club. But the Mets would be more interested in unlocking his true potential during the playoffs.