Juan Soto has struggled in 2025, to say the least. With the New York Yankees holding a commanding 5.5 lead in the AL East, the New York Mets are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies at the top of the NL East. With the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves eight and eight and a half games behind them, Soto and crew will be competing with the Phillies for that top spot the rest of the season.
Derek Jeter Discusses Juan Soto’s Struggles
At this point in the season, Soto is hitting just .231. The 26-year-old hit .288 with the Yankees last season, his career best since he hit .313 in Washington back in 2021.
After signing the most lucrative contract in the history of Major League Baseball, Mets fans have every right to be concerned as their $765 million player can’t seem to put it all together.
“All the Mets fans are very concerned right now,” Jeter said. “This is the guy, the single acquisition who was going to single-handedly take you to the World Series and win a World Series championship.”
“You stole him from the Yankees, is it fair? Absolutely not,” Jeter continued. “But that’s the expectation as Juan Soto is going to be there for a long time. My two oldest are in first and second grade, they’ll be finishing college, and Soto will still be playing for the Mets. He’s going to hit, he’s going to bounce back, because he’s just too good of a player.”
“My two oldest are in first and second grade. They will be finishing college, and Juan Soto will still be playing for the New York Mets. He’s going to be there for a long time. He’s going to hit.”@derekjeter isn’t concerned about Juan Soto’s slow start in Queens pic.twitter.com/UNrtlmaeSm
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 31, 2025
While there’s still plenty of time, the Mets made it all the way to the NLCS last year without Soto. Seeing as Soto appeared in the World Series with the Yankees one season ago and lost to the same Dodgers team that took the Mets out, Soto and the entire Mets organization are looking forward to a potential rematch in the postseason.
With Jeter doing the math and putting that timeline into perspective, it’s crazy to think that Soto will likely be a Mets player for the remainder of his career. He’ll be over 40 years old when that contract expires, and who knows what the future will hold after that.
When looking at Baseball Savant, Soto still has quite a few categories where he’s red hot. The lefty is in the top ten percent of baseball in eight different categories, with him being in the top five percent for five of those eight. Most notably, he’s in the top one percent of the league with his 16.9 BB%.