David Lennon: Juan Soto's greatness is getting lost amid Mets' ineptitude
Mets' Juan Soto looks on before the 2026 MLB All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park on July 14, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pa. Credit: Getty Images/Emilee Chinn
PHILADELPHIA
This year’s All-Star Game deserved to be more about Juan Soto.
No Shohei Ohtani, who skipped the trip to nurse an aching knee. No Aaron Judge, as the Yankees’ captain stayed back in New York for tests on his fractured rib cage.
Next up figured to be Soto, who at 27 already has a World Series ring, is coming off back-to-back third-place finishes for MVP — one in each league — and also is baseball’s highest-paid player, thanks to a record 15-year, $765 million contract.
Yet Soto never seemed to be center stage at Citizens Bank Park. Not like Ohtani and Judge, or the hometown heroes Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, or even newcomers like Munetaka Murakami — the rookie Japanese slugger — or Jordan Walker, who won Monday night’s Home Run Derby thriller by crushing a last-swing walk-off into the seats.
Incredibly, it was hard enough for Soto to even score an invite to Philadelphia, as the Mets’ superstar somehow placed fifth among NL outfielders in the Phase 1 All-Star ballot with 1,538,562 votes, behind the Dodgers’ Andy Pages, the Phillies’ Brandon Marsh, Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. and another Dodger, Teoscar Hernandez. Soto eventually got the start in leftfield after he made the initial cut and his votes picked up in the whittled-down Phase 2.
That’s still way better than last year, his first in Flushing, when Soto couldn’t crack the NL roster, despite shaking off a slow start to put up All-Star worthy numbers by the break. It seems crazy to have an All-World hitter like Soto, the “generational talent,” left out of the Midsummer Classic, regardless of an early dip in performance. Which is why Soto seemed to almost have a sense of relief for getting back to the All-Star Game this season — his fifth career appearance — despite being on an MVP track in the first half.
“It feels great for me,” Soto said. “I feel like every team I’ve been a part of, I’ve been giving my 100%. I’ve been giving everything that I have, and to be recognized with an All-Star Game, I think it’s really cool for myself.”
Soto’s at the point where it should almost be automatic. He had the usual two-deep ring of reporters surrounding his booth at Monday’s media session, when Soto answered a non-stop barrage of questions, in both English and Spanish, for 45 minutes straight.
A dozen or so involved the Mets’ struggles, a topic that Soto is well-versed in by now. The familiarity with the topic makes those replies second nature, and 10 times easier then the interrogations he faced in previous trips to the Midsummer Classic.
Two years ago, when Soto was an All-Star for the Yankees, the entire industry was obsessed with his next destination — and the astronomical contract figures. In 2022, his last with the Nationals, Soto sat beneath a scorching LA sun — agent Scott Boras beside him — and talked about the inevitability of his coming trade. Two weeks later, Soto was a member of the Padres.
“I feel like every question was about trading me,” a smiling Soto recalled. And now? “It’s a different mindset.”
Presumably, the drama-filled days of his early twenties are behind him for good. But until recently, that’s what Soto was best known for — always being the most coveted player available, whether by trade or free agency. The Mets are his fourth team in the span of five seasons, and their systemwide failures can’t help but nudge Soto out of baseball’s spotlight as apathy swallows New York’s second franchise.
That’s remarkable, considering Soto could make a second-half push for serious MVP consideration, depending on the severity of Ohtani’s knee issue. At the break, Soto was second in the NL with a .967 OPS and was tied for the sixth-most homers (21), but also appeared to be just heating up during the final weeks of the first half.
Soto is giving off Alex Rodriguez vibes, circa 2003, when he won the MVP — three seasons into a 10-year, $252 million contract — for a Rangers team that finished 20 games under .500 (71-91) and 25 games out of first place. Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees the following winter, and everything changed.
Could the A-Rod legend, along with his Q rating, have grown on the national stage from deep in the heart of Texas? Probably not. But there’s no exit strategy for Soto, other than the Mets fixing their dumpster fire and doing their part to make him an October regular. In the meantime, Soto will have to do the heavy image lifting on his own. While Ohtani and Judge generally are considered the faces of baseball, Soto should figure prominently in that Polaroid, too.
“I think he’s Top 5, if not higher,” Cody Bellinger said. “I just think, no matter what, his plate discipline, his power, contact quality. I mean, he’s a Hall of Famer. He’s only 27 years old, which is insane. He’s still so young.”
That helped Soto pull in such a monster contract, which at the moment, doesn’t look so great with the Mets miles away from respectability. On the Yankees, Soto was the Robin to Judge’s Batman, and seemed to thrive in that dynamic. He’d have a bigger profile in the Bronx — that comes with the pinstripes — but now Soto is the main event at the off-Broadway venue that is Citi Field these days.
Soto said Monday that fellow Dominican Robinson Cano was one of his childhood idols, another Yankees star who bolted the Bronx, stunningly, for a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Mariners. Cano was productive in Seattle, but his A-list image soon began to fade in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.
This should be Soto’s time to shine on the All-Star stage, for many years to come.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
