MLB analyst reveals the real reason behind Juan Soto’s sluggish start with the Mets

Mets superstar Juan Soto has yet to live up to the hype of his big money move — at least statistically. Since signing the richest contract ever awarded to a sportsperson at $765 million, Soto has struggled adjusting to life in Queens.

With the superstar's struggles at the plate, MLB analyst Mike Petriello presented issues as to why the Mets outfielder has not been up to par and has so far failed to live up to the billing.

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"Juan Soto was being too passive in the strike zone," Petriello said. "He had one of his slowest in-zone swing rates in May, and he's obviously got an elite batter's eye, we all know this," he added. (1:18-1:26)

The MLB analyst further expounded that the outfield star was unusually being passive in his swings this year, leading to one of the worst in-zone percentage rates of his career at 53.2%. The statistic is defined by the percentage of pitches wherein a hitter swings that are located inside the strike zone.

"But there's a difference between having a lot of patience and passing up hittable pitches and these right here, are the lowest swing rate months of his career in May 2025, early 2023, and late last year. Those were not great months for him." (1:27-1:40)

Despite the struggles, Petriello stated that Soto is quite on the uptrend after swinging better this month.

"He needs to swing a little bit more and that's really got him back his career averages this month. So two things, the misfortune's catching up and he's being a little bit more aggressive and being the best version of him right now." (1:41-1:57)

Soto is currently batting .253/.389/.466 with 13 home runs and 36 RBI, a farcry from his usual near-.300 batting average that he posted throughout his accolade-laden career.

Mets outgunned by Rays in series-opener

The Mets and Rays engaged in a slugfest in offense on Saturday. Unfortunately, for the hosts, the visitors outgunned and outran them in the relatively close battle.

Tampa Bay came away with a 7-5 win on the road after outhitting the Mets, 13-7. Jonathan Aranda and Brandon Lowe each had three base hits for the visitors while Starling Marte hit three of his own in the losing effort.

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The action heated up in the mid stage of the game as the team exchanged runs. Aranda put the Rays on the board with a solo blast, before the hosts answered back with five consecutive runs.

Not to be outclassed, the Rays opened a six-spot in the sixth inning that was started off by Jake Magnum's two-run single and capped off by Danny Jansen's two-run home run. Pete Fairbanks then provided the finishing touches as he recorded his 12th save of the year.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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Edited by Daniel Santiago