Why Mets' Carlos Mendoza still isn't worried about Juan Soto amid slow start

On Monday, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen said that he was "not worried about" All-Star outfielder Juan Soto amid Soto's unimpressive start to his Mets tenure. 

Following that comment, Soto went hitless across a pair of home games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Before the Mets went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 runners on base in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks, New York manager Carlos Mendoza insisted that Soto had been "giving quality at-bats" despite his overall lack of production at the plate. 

"We went through a stretch where he was hitting a lot of balls on the ground, even at 108 [mph], but it was ground balls," Mendoza said, as shared by Peter Sblendorio of the New York Daily News. "I see him now with some more line drives. ...There are some good signs."

Many, if not most, fans can accept that people within the Mets seem confident Soto will soon break out of his springtime swoon with the first-place club at 21-10 on the season following Wednesday's action. It also doesn't hurt that the Amazins won 13 of their first 15 home games this spring. 

That said, there could soon come a point where even Soto begins to wonder if he's in for a rough debut Mets season, similar to what shortstop Francisco Lindor experienced in 2021 after he put pen to paper on a 10-year contract extension worth $341M in March of that year. Soto began Thursday slashing .241/.368/.384 with a .752 OPS, three home runs and 12 RBI. His last homer occurred back on April 15. 

In short, such numbers hardly match the value of the 15-year, $765M contract that Soto received from the Mets this past offseason. 

"He’ll be alright," Mendoza added about Soto on Wednesday. 

Per David Lennon of Newsday, Mets third baseman Mark Vientos noted after Wednesday's loss that "the scary part" about how the club has thus far played this spring is that "there’s more there" regarding the team's offense. 

For now, all Vientos and others associated with the Mets can do is wait for the version of Soto who has routinely raked during his career to produce the type of dramatic at-the-plate moment that became expected during his time with the New York Yankees.