Mets' Juan Soto earns prestigious Players Choice nomination

It isn't new terrain for the 26-year-old superstar, who was just third in AL MVP voting last year with the Yankees and was recently named a finalist for the Hank Aaron award for the best offensive performer in each league.

How Juan Soto stacks up against Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber

Throughout his eight-year career, Soto has consistently put himself in the conversation with the league's top hitters, racking up four silver sluggers and four All-Star appearances. Excluding the shortened 2020 season, Soto has breezed to 20 home runs every year and just launched a career-high 43 homers in 2025.

As a first-year Met, he took to developing a new facet of his game and finished with 38 stolen bases. Working with first base coach Antoan Richardson, Soto became a savvy baserunner that made a real bid at a 40-40 season. Prior to 2025, Soto had only tallied double-digit steals twice (12 in 2023 and 2019).

After what was widely considered a slow start to the season for his standards, Soto proved to be the most productive hitter on a Mets team that relied on him heavily down the stretch to generate runs. With a .921 OPS and 43 homers, his power trailed just Ohtani (1.014 OPS, 55 HR) and Schwarber (.928 OPS, 56 HR) in the National League.

But Soto's 127 walks (1st in NL) and 38 stolen bases (tied 1st in NL) were well above his fellow nominees Ohtani (109 BB, 20 SB) and Schwarber (108 BB, 10 SB). Soto boasted an impressive
.927 walk to strikeout ratio while Ohtani and Schwarber were both below .600 and racked up 50 and 60 more strikeouts than the Mets star, respectively.

Still, it's easy to see why Ohtani is considered to be the heavy favorite for the NL MVP award after pairing his dominant season at the plate with a return to pitching where he posted a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts.

Like Ohtani and the Dodgers, Schwarber's tremendous season helped propel his Phillies into the postseason after beating out Soto's Mets by 13 games to win the NL East. However unlikely he may be to win the award, Soto's nomination is a strong reflection of his great start to his career in New York and the respect he has garnered around the league.