Francisco Lindor addresses Juan Soto's struggles, turnaround

Outfielder Juan Soto has looked more like his star self over the past few weeks after he struggled over the first two months of his New York Mets tenure. 

During an appearance on the latest edition of "The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman," Mets shortstop and unofficial team captain Francisco Lindor explained why he always believed it was a matter of when and not if Soto would break out of his springtime slump.

"When it comes to Soto, yeah, for some of the fans, he looked like he was struggling, but the numbers were good, the expected numbers, which is something that a lot of front offices look into," Lindor said, as shared by Camden Markel of the New York Post. "Credit to him…he still looks like the same person — he didn’t ride the wave of being bad or the wave of being good. He stayed the course." 

Lindor was referencing how advanced stats indicated Soto was often the victim of bad luck in April and May. For example, Baseball Savant shows that the 26-year-old who signed a 15-year, $765M contract to join the Mets this past offseason ended Tuesday ranked second in all of MLB with a .450 expected weighted on-base average for the campaign. New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge led the league with a .459 xwOBA at that time. 

According to Baseball Reference, Soto slashed .351/.519/.737 with a 1.256 OPS, six home runs, 12 RBI and 19 walks over 17 games played from May 30 through Tuesday's 5-4 extra innings loss at the Atlanta Braves. Over his first 72 games of the season, Soto slashed .252/.392/.469 with an .861 OPS, 14 homers and 37 RBI. 

"For such a young player with a lot on his plate, he has handled himself extremely well," Lindor added. "...I believe he’s going to end up being an All-Star, and he’s gonna have a fantastic year. It’s gonna help us win and continue to help us to win a lot of games."

Not long after the Cleveland Guardians traded Lindor to the Mets in January 2021, he signed a 10-year contract extension worth $341M. He then routinely heard boos that spring amid his poor performances at the plate, and he later apologized for a "thumbs-down" celebration that was a response to jeering home fans. 

"I wanted to do so much more than I could have," Lindor said. "It wasn’t until I learned the organization, the culture, until I went through a lot of ups and downs, that I realized, you know what? If I take care of my job, and my job is to play shortstop for the New York Mets, a lot of other things are gonna get solved." 

Lindor is now a beloved figure among Mets fans who routinely call for him to be named team captain. Perhaps Soto won't need even one entire season to truly fit in with what will be his employer for the foreseeable future.