Juan Soto is smiling.
During one at-bat in Saturday’s Spring Training game, back-to-back pitches came up and in on the New York Mets’ superstar. He had a few laughs, smiled, and maintained a running dialogue with the Marlins’ catcher.
Clearly, he’s playing free.
It’s not the same way Soto felt a year ago at this time. Last spring was his first on his Mets mega contract. That comes with all sorts of pressure.
This time around, even with a ton of new faces around him, Soto feels right at home. This is the place he’s used to now. The uniform, the manager, the pressure — it’s all familiar territory.
It also helped Soto simply prepare for the season.
“I feel like last year’s offseason was kind of tough. I was going through a lot of ups and downs. Traveling a lot. Moving everywhere. Getting phone calls. Stopping workouts in the middle. It just wasn’t my best workouts. This year, I could work a little harder and have a little more fun with it.”
Soto told SNY about the difference a stable offseason makes.
Soto’s 2025 season got off to a really rough start.
By the end of it, though, he had put together another one of his prodigious seasons that has him on track to be a Hall of Famer if he keeps it up.
He was even stealing bases more than he ever has before. He was about as complete a player as he could possibly be.
This season, there’s really just one change for Soto. He’s moving from right field to left field.
As a whole, though, the biggest change for Soto is that their’s a lot less change. And he’s appreciative of that stability heading into year two in Queens.
