Soto Has His Running Mates in Mets Outfield

 

A.J. Ewing heading to first base on his leadoff home run in the first inning. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Mets are locked into Juan Soto as a member of their outfield for the next decade and a half, and in this season of transition, it's pretty clear who could be along for the ride with him.

Before the season even began, the message was sent when Carson Benge was named the starting right fielder for Opening Day.

The left-handed hitter, who has hit in the leadoff spot for most of the season, has turned in a solid rookie campaign, as through Tuesday, he was hitting .262, with 11 home runs and 36  a .322 on-base percentage and a .408 slugging percentage.

Then, on May 12, the Mets, after seeing Luis Robert Jr. go down with injury, made another statement about the future, while also hoping to give the present a spark, by bringing up A.J. Ewing to play center field.

Initially, the club was inspired, as they swept the Detroit Tigers and then took two of three from the Yankees in the Subway Series, but like other moments this season, it wasn't sustained.

More notable about Ewing's call-up is the effect, indirect or not, it has had on Soto. 

From May 14 through Tuesday, in 46 games, Soto hit .321 with a .442 OBP and a .654 slugging %, a 1.096 OPS, with 16 home runs, 38 RBI, 31 runs, 535 walks.

Soto hit his 20th home run of the season on Tuesday, the fourth time in his career that he has hit that plateau before the All-Star Break, as he also did it in 2022, while he was still playing for the Washington Nationals; 2024, when he was with the Yankees, and last season, his first in Queens.

Only four other Mets have hit 20-plus home runs before the Midsummer Classic: Dave Kingman (two times), Darryl Strawberry (three times), Howard Johnson (twice), and Pete Alonso (four times).

Ewing, in 52 games through Tuesday, has hit .276, with six home runs and 23 RBI, and since June 14, in 22 games, he has a .311/.400/.552 slash line, with five home runs and 16 RBI, with four doubles, 12 runs scored and a .968 OPS.

On Tuesday night, Ewing went 4-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, four runs scored, a walk, and a stolen base. With that performance, he is now one of eight Major League players to reach base four or more times, record an extra-base hit, and a stolen base in the same game multiple times.

"It's a dynamic outfield, with young kids playing alongside of the best hitter in the game, and the young kids play the game the right way," Mets Manager Andy Greene said in his pregame press conference on Wednesday. "I think a lot of people, from the scouts that found them to the people that coached them, like helped them take steps forward, and now they belong in the outfield - they know it.

"You've got a guy in A.J. Ewing that, from an on-base perspective, is hopefully somebody that can stay in the top of lineup for a long time. He's got a lot of work to prove that he can do that, he's done it for a few months; and Carson is someone that I think is a middle-of-the-order type bat in the long run, too.

"I think it's really encouraging to look out there and see what we would expect to be the continuity over the next couple of years, with guys that are producing, and producing really well."

Green was asked in regards to Ewing, the night before, saying he's experiencing comfort at a different level in the box, and the skipper said of how important that is, "Talking about a guy who played 12 triple-A baseball games, I think, and finding comfort in the big leagues within 200 at-bats says a lot about him. That takes a lot of guys a lot longer to find that. I still want him on the attack; I don't really love hearing A.J. Ewing and 'comfortable' in the same sentence. 

"I think he thrives on challenges, and I think he loves to have somebody challenge him in a way and say, 'you're going to have to prove you can do this before you can get this,' and that goes all the way back, I think I alluded to it before, when I told him he was going back to A-ball, and he said, 'it'll only be a short time, not a big deal,' and he went out and proved that he didn't belong there. Those things speak a lot to who he is, and I want him to just continue to rise up and meet the challenge every single day. 

"I think he's wired to do that, and the at-bats against lefties recently have been really good. He had an off day in Atlanta (Saturday, 0-for-2) and just watching him bounce back from that off day and have a good day (2-4, with an HR Sunday), like, it's really hard to have a short-term memory in this league. It's really hard for young kids, and seeing that with him and Carson, to have that gift of a short-term memory, and don't hang on to struggles or frustrations, or what the world might look as a failing at-bat. They don't hang on to those things long, they discard them, they get right back in the box and they compete, and, like, that's what we want to see."

As if on cue from what Greene said in the pregame, Ewing led off the game with a home run for the first time in his career, giving the Mets the spark they needed after a wild 16-12 loss on Tuesday night.

The Mets, backed by five shutout innings from another young stud, Christian Scott, went on to beat the Royals, 6-2, with five runs in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie.