The New York Mets may be sitting at 35-22 and in second place in the NL East, but President of Baseball Operations David Stearns isn’t letting the standings hide what has been ailing the team. Speaking ahead of the Mets’ series against the Rockies, Stearns gave an honest assessment of the two biggest issues plaguing the club this season – lack of production with runners in scoring position and inconsistent infield defense.
“We have not been good in that spot over the course of the year and more recently over the last 10 days [or] two weeks.” Stearns said, referring to the team’s struggles with runners in scoring position.
He added that while success in those moments can often be “random,” the team’s recent trend has been hard to ignore.
David Stearns Believes Juan Soto Is Trying To Do “Too Much”
According to Stearns, awareness isn’t the problem, but execution is. “The players are extremely aware of this,” he said. “And sometimes you wonder, ‘Is this a good thing or a bad thing to be as aware of this as they all are?’”
Despite the issues, the Mets managed a 4-2 win over Colorado on Friday, going 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position but getting solo home runs from Francisco Lindor (2) and Starling Marte to carry the offense.
Juan Soto, the $765 million man, has had a slow start. He is batting just .229 with a .755 OPS through May. Also, Soto was recently subjected to heavy trolling on social media. Stearns, though, isn’t worried yet.
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“I honestly don’t have a ‘this is the issue’ that he needs to fix to get better,” Stearns said. “He’s hitting the ball on the ground a little bit more than he has in the past… Do I think he’s trying to do a little too much right now? Yeah, I think he’s probably trying to do a little bit too much right now. And that is natural for a player who cares about improving.”
The Mets know what’s wrong. The question now is how quickly they can fix it.
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