Of the 37 pitches thrown so far to Juan Soto, 26 have been outside the strike zone with eight of them low and away and nine high and inside. That shows the respect pitchers have for Soto’s bat.
Of those 17 pitches, Soto swung at and missed just one. Unfortunately, that was the strikeout pitch that Josh Hader threw in the ninth inning of the Mets opening game.
In 2024 with the Yankees, Soto’s OBP against sliders was .344. That was the 16th highest OBP on Baseball Savant among all batters who had been thrown at least 400 sliders. The best in MLB was Aaron Judge (.416) and on the Mets — J. D. Martinez (.299). Pete Alonso’s OBP on sliders was just .214, sixth lowest, while the MLB average OBP was .276.
Since 1962, only 13 Mets who have played in at least 100 games in a season have had an OBP of .400 or above. The first was Richie Ashburn in 1962. His .424 OBP was not topped until 36 years later when John Olerud had a .447 OBP, a number no other Met has come close to through 2024.
Mets top OBPs in a season
That might change this season. Juan Soto, one of only two active players with an OBP >= .400 over at least 100 games in six seasons — the other is Mike Trout — is now a Met. However, Soto exceeded Olerud’s .427 OBP just once when he reached .465 in 2021 with the Nationals. In his other five seasons, Soto’s highest OBP was .419, accomplished last season with the Yankees.
Active players with most seasons with OBP >= .400 & Games >= 100
Among the active Mets players besides Soto, only one had an OBP >= .400 in at least 100 games in a season, Brandon Nimmo doing it once, but that was seven years ago when his OBP was .404.
Justin Turner played for the Mets from 2010 through 2013. During those years, his highest OBP was .334. After the 2013 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Dodgers. In three of his season with them, he had an OBP over .400 three times, playing more than 100 games in each.
❓I’ve wondered why he couldn’t hit like that with the Mets.
My game story, “October 3, 2024: Mets shock Brewers, win NL Wild Card Series on Pete Alonso’s home run,” was just published on the SABR website. Before that four-bagger, Alonso’s biggest homer in his five-year career were his four walk-offs, one hit in each of his first four seasons. Last season was the first in which he did not hit a game-ending home run.
The first was on September 3, 2020 against the Yankees on a day that the Mets honored Tom Seaver. It was hit in the bottom of the 10th with the game tied 7-7 and two runners on base. It was the season’s last Subway Series game and enabled the Mets to even the six-game series. Alonso blasted the ball into the left-field stands in a heavy rain.
After the game, Luis Rojas said this about Alonso’s homer: “We’re always expecting something special from his at-bats. . . . It was an emotional day for us, a special day honoring and paying tribute to the greatest Met of all-time.”1 Seaver had passed away the previous Monday from dementia and the coronavirus.
Alonso’s second walk-off homer ended the second game of a twin bill on August 12, 2021 against the Nationals in the bottom of the seventh. No runners were on base. The Mets had won the first game, 5-4.
Anthony Bieber wrote, “Alonso’s 25th home run was a high drive to left that seemed to take an hour and a half to come down. When it did, [it fell] just over the reach of the leaping Andrew Stevenson.”2
The hit enabled the Mets to sweep the twin bill.
The third game-ending blast occurred on May 19, 2022 in Queens. In the bottom of the 10th with the Mets down 6-5, Alonso led off against new reliever Giovanny Gallegos and lofted the second pitch into deep left field, scoring Francisco Lindor, who had started the inning on second base.
He swatted his fourth four-bag game-ender against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 17, 2023 in CitiField in the bottom of the 10th with Jeff McNeil on first and the Mets behind 7-5. Despite playing while sick, launched his game-winner into “leftfield’s second deck.”
David Lennon wrote, “when Pete Fairbanks threw him a 98-mph four-seamer, Alonso treated it like batting practice, muscling the game-winner for what the Mets hope is a season-turning victory.”3
After the game, Alonso shared his in-game philosophy:
“There’s never a doubt in our minds,” Alonso said, his nose red and eyes watery. “We keep fighting, we keep doing the best we can, every single day, every pitch, every out. And that’s all we can do. Do the best we can, and see how it plays out.”4
Notes
Jerry Beach, “Alonso homer in 10th lifts Mets over Yankees,” The Post Standard, September 4, 2020: B1. ↩︎
Anthony Rieber, “Walk-off’s the walk, talk’s talk,” Newsday, August 13, 2021: A45. ↩︎
David Lennon, “Kids may be better than alright,” Newsday, May 8, 2023: A59. ↩︎
In 2024, five players with the New York Mets made their major-league debuts.1 The first was Dedniel Nunez, who debuted on April 9, 2024. At age 28, he was the oldest of the five. He had been in the minor leagues since 2017, all but one season with the Mets. He appeared in 25 games and pitched 35 innings with a 2.31 ERA and a 2-0 record. In his last five appearances (6.1 innings) he gave up just four hits, three walks, and one earned run, while striking out 12. A “strained flexor tendon in his right arm” ended his season after his August 24 outing, according to Anthony DiComo on mlb.com.
The second was Tyler Jay, who debuted on April 11, 2024. At age 30, he was the oldest of the five. In three games (4.2 innings), he had a 4.70 ERA with neither a win nor a loss. His July 1 Mets appearance was his last. He pitched twice more in 2024, both times with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Christian Scott was third on May 4. The 25-year-old pitched 47.1 innings over nine games with an 0-3 record and a 4.56 ERA. On September 18, Anthony DiComo wrote that “Scott, one of the Mets’ most promising pitching prospects of the past decade, will undergo season-ending elbow surgery next week and miss the entire 2025 campaign as well.” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza tried to be upbeat about the loss, saying this about Scott: “He took the baseball from us and gave us a chance.” Unfortunately, he won’t get another season to pitch for the Mets until 2026.
Fourth was Paul Orze, age 27, appeared in his first Mets game on July 8. In two appearances, he pitched just 1.2 innings. He notched one loss and had a 21.60 ERA. He should get another chance in 2025 as he pitched well with the Syracuse Mets. In 61.2 innings over 43 games he was 6-1 with a 2.92 ERA.
The last one was Luisangel Acuna. The youngest at age 22, his Mets career on September 14. In 39 at-bats he hit .308. After just four games in the majors, Joe Pantomo’s article about Acuna in amny.com was headlined “Mets’ Luisangel Acuna already ‘looks like he belongs in the big leagues.’” After the game, Mendoza said about Acuna 3 for 4 performance, “It’s a good sign. It tells us a lot.” The Mets manager added, “He’s calm, poised — he just looks like he belongs in the big leagues.”
Pete Alonso also praised Acuna, per the amny.com article, saying, “He’s jelled super quick. He’s been a compete pro so far and he’s been outstanding.”
In 2024, 255 baseball players made their major-league debut. ↩︎
Bats and Stats 