“You’ll never see Aaron Judge do that” - MLB insiders predict Juan Soto’s lack of hustle will be major concern for Mets in long run

Ever since Juan Soto and Aaron Judge went from teammates to rivals this past offseason, there have been plenty of comparisons between the two superstars, with both fan bases trying to "one-up" each other.

Both players have been in good touch this season. Judge is enjoying yet another MVP-caliber year, with a .358 batting average, 34 home runs and 79 RBIs. Soto, after starting the season slowly, has enjoyed a monster June. At the moment, the Dominican is batting .265, with 22 home runs and 54 RBIs.

Though Soto's hitting has been good of late, an area that has led to scrutiny from experts is his 'lack of hustle' when running the bases. Insiders Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata discussed that aspect of Soto's game on Friday's WFAN broadcast.

"I have a major issue with Juan Soto not hustling [when running the bases]. It's inexcusable. You're making a lot of money here, you gotta hustle," Licata said [1:20].

Concurring with Licata's argument, Tierney talked about how such a "lack of hustle" is not something one would associate with Judge. Tierney also talked about how such an attitude, if not corrected in time, could lead to plenty of problems for the Mets in the years to come.

"I think it hurts them downstream [if Soto continues this way]," Tierney said (3:20). "There's a lot of young kids on this team, who are impressionable. You just don't see leaders and grinders doing that. David Wright with a bad bat didn't do that. Derek Jeter never did that. You will never see Aaron Judge do that. Even when Aaron Judge is 37 and diminished he will never do that."

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Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza also had an 'in-house' conversation with Juan Soto about his 'lack of hustle'

There have been far too many occasions this year where Juan Soto appeared to be "unwilling" to hustle to first base after hitting a ground ball, or when a hit presented a chance for extra bases.

Back when the Mets faced the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Soto came under fire yet again, as he ended up laboring to first base despite hitting a ball off the Green Monster.

Addressing the incident after the game, Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza confirmed he had spoken to Soto about the play, but did not offer further information.

"I'm not going to get into the back and forth, I'm going to keep that in house," Mendoza said. "The one thing I'll tell you as a manager, my job is to continue to coach him (Juan Soto), continue to teach him. Same thing with the [rest of] the coaches, we will continue to do that, the same thing we've done since day one."

As more important games approach, Mets fans will be hoping Soto can iron out this major issue from his play completely as the season wears on.