Juan Soto will play left field for the Mets this coming season, president of baseball operations David Stearns said on Tuesday at the open of Spring Training.
Soto has been primarily a right fielder since 2021, though he does have some experience at the other outfield corner. Soto started 112 games in left field for the Nationals in 2018 and 150 in '19, the year Washington won the franchise's first World Series. By 2021, he had made the move to right, starting 144 games there that season.
Since that year, Soto has been almost exclusively a right fielder, save for one season with the Padres in 2023, when he played 154 games in left.
Soto posted -12 Outs Above Average in right field with the Mets last season and was in the 66th percentile of arm strength. His best defensive season came in 2019, when he posted +5 OAA as a left fielder.
With Soto in left, the Mets will likely utilize Tyrone Taylor or top prospect Carson Benge in right field.