Jorge Castillopr 10, 2025, 07:00 at
CloseESPN baseball reporter. He covered the Washington Wizard from 2014 to 2016, the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018, and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018, and then covered the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK – Juan Soto asked the New York Mets a few questions during free agency negotiations this winter. One was about their lineup structure.
Soto spent the 2024 season in the Bronx, constantly comparing himself to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as half of the historically productive duo. He and the American league MVP Judge Aaron were a fierce puzzle to solve in the New York Yankees lineup. Left-handed Soto was his second hit. The right-handed judge came in third place. They protected each other and crushed the pitchers. Leaving the Yankees means leaving the judge.
“It was one of the key parts of the discussion,” Soto told ESPN in Spanish on Tuesday. “Who was planning on hitting behind me?”
The answer seemed clear. Pete Alonso remained a free agent. The first base is homemade and is worshiped by Queens. More importantly, he is a right-handed slugger for the purpose of building the lineup. He’s not at the level of a judge – who is it? -However, he has been ranked right behind the judge on a home run since his debut in 2019. He was clearly a complement to Soto.
“I told them he was the best option,” Soto said.
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By late January, Alonso’s return still seemed unlikely. Mets owner Steve Cohen called negotiations “tiring” and “bad” than Soto’s pursuit during a fan event at Citifield. He kept the door open, but heavily at the frustration of Mets fans in the crowd that day, he also said the organization was ready to move on from the four-time All-Stars.
Less than two weeks later, a few days before spring training, I signed a two-year contract with opt-out after this season. Alonso, 30, has protected the franchise’s $765 million investment from the Mets’ past. Two months after the partnership, the early returns for the 2025 season stand in favor of Soto’s opinion. The best example was Tuesday’s victory over the Miami Marlins.
The Mets, who led 6-5, had Soto’s runner at the corner in the sixth inning. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough brought in right-handed Ronnie Henriquez. It loaded Alonso’s bass and created an opportunity for a double play at the end of the inning with a correct right matchup, but McCullough pulled the infield and outfield to make another extraordinary call. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he was not surprised by the Marlins’ decision to walk around Soto.
“I think it’s going to reach the point where you choose your poison,” Mendoza said.
After two pitches, Alonso broke a 93 mph sinker into the field gap in the middle left, earning a base clearing triple, opening the game on a cold, dull afternoon at Queens.
It was Alonso’s second double of the day – his first, three innings Texas leaguer to the right field drove on the Mets’ first two runs. Alonso was the engine of the offensive on three holes behind leadoff man Francisco Lindor and Soto, batting .333 with three home runs, 15 RBI and 1.139 OPS throughout the club’s first 12 games.
“The team seems to be trying not to get beaten by Soto,” Mendoza said. “And before you know that, they’re making a mistake with Pete, so he’s ready to make them pay.”
Alonso is trying to reverse a three-year decline in offensive production after the worst offensive campaign of 2024. That’s early, but so far Alonso has frequently unstoppable pitches outside the strike zone. He barrels the pitch on the plate at a higher percentage. He’s crushing the pitch on the other hand – at the Mets’ home opener on Friday, he ran a 95 mph fastball from Kevin Gaussmann, out of the strike zone and ran a two-run homer to the right field.
Hitting behind Soto, who has an on-base percentage of .404 as a MET made his job a little easier.
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“He’s that kind of professional,” Alonso said of Soto. “Obviously, he has the power and he has the hit tool. He can hit on average. A very dynamic player gets offensive. But what I really benefit is just seeing a lot of pitches and seeing what they’re doing to him, obviously it really helps because he’s trying to get away from the middle of the zone with him.
It puts more strain on pitches for Soto, the game’s most trained batsman. With more runners at the base, there’s more pitches and faster balls on the plates that Alonso devours. It is the Soto style, which is expected in winter. It remains unclear whether it will expand beyond this season.
There’s no doubt he’s popular with fans. During the Mets’ home opener on Friday, Citifield roamed towards Alonso during a pre-game introduction. Fans did so again when he stepped into the batsman’s box for his first at-bat. And once more, a while later, he appeared from the dugout for a curtain call after hitting a two-run home run.
One option to trade Alonso this week was removed from the board when one-base handed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a 14-year, $500 million contract extension. Guerrero’s contract should support Alonso’s potential acquisition if Alonso opts out of the contract and chooses to strike free agency again this winter.
For now, in his seventh season, Alonso thrived as the Mets’ first baseman, bumping into the back of his team’s most valuable players.
“That’s why you want it [protection] Soto said. But whenever they don’t want to sell me, I know there’s someone behind me who can make it even worse for them. ”
