Apr 12, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto (22) looks towards the dugout after drawing a walk against the Athletics in the third inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Mets legend assesses reason for Juan Soto's slow start

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Apr 15, 2025 8:00 AM ET

As soon as New York Mets slugger Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal this past offseason, he set himself up for an extremely small margin for error across the rest of his MLB career.

What's for sure is that Mets fans expected nothing less than an MVP-caliber season from Soto, not only in 2025, but essentially every season beyond that. And while there's still plenty of time for Soto to produce that sort of 2025 campaign, he hasn't had the start he or anybody else imagined.

While Soto did hit a two-run home run against the Twins on April 14, that was his second home run of the year, his first hit with runners in scoring position all season, and raised his season average to .250 and OPS to .829.

Juan Soto gives this baseball a ride pic.twitter.com/zmU9xHdEsr
— MLB (@MLB) April 15, 2025

An .829 OPS would be respectable for almost every MLB player. But for Soto (who has a career .951 regular season OPS), it feels like an extremely slow start.

Before Monday's game, Mets icon José Reyes joined Andy Martino, Laura Albanese, and Sal Licata on Baseball Night in New York. And at one point, Reyes discussed what he thinks is the reason for Soto's slow start.

"You know, maybe, I don't know, maybe he's trying to do a little bit too much," Reyes said, per an X post from SNY. "But it's only 15 games, and I think the fans expect Soto to hit a homer every single day. That's not gonna happen!"

He then added, "I want to see it, too. But in baseball, that's not happening. He's gonna be fine, though. He's gonna be fine."

José Reyes (@lamelaza_7), @martinonyc, @AlbaneseLaura and @sal_licata discuss Juan Soto's start to the season on BNNY:

➡️ Tri-State @Cadillac pic.twitter.com/fJEnOY6tc7
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 14, 2025