PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Juan Soto cut and missed on the first four-seam fastball he saw on Saturday. The second? He was not going to miss.
Soto immediately showcased the talent that the New York Mets are getting after their seismic $765 million signing this winter.
In his first spring training at-bat with the Mets, Soto blasted a thigh-high fastball from Houston Astros starter Colton Gordon 426 feet over the left-center field wall, bringing a sold-out Clover Park crowd to its feet on Saturday afternoon.
‘One hundred percent. Even with those live BPs, I have the same mentality,’ Soto said about capitalizing on the second fastball. ‘When he threw that fastball, I could see on his face, he was feeling himself. He came with another and I just gotta make sure I don’t miss it.’
Soto provided Mets fans with an unforgettable debut, adding another RBI on a fielder’s choice in the second inning to kick-start Grapefruit League play. The Mets took down the Astros 6-2 in the teams’ spring opener.
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‘Pretty incredible, I’m not gonna lie,’ Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. ‘I’ve been watching this guy take some live at-bats for the past four or five days and then just having the ability to turn the switch like that. You put a different guy on the mound with a different uniform and he’s just locked in. Regardless of the results, it was a different guy in the box today.’
Soto left the park with regularity last season as a member of the New York Yankees, ripping a career-high 41 home runs to go along with 109 RBI.
In his first Grapefruit League action as a member of the Mets, Soto batted second behind Francisco Lindor and ahead of Pete Alonso.
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