NEW YORK -- For the briefest of moments, his leg coursing in pain, Juan Soto said that “everything went through my mind.” Hopping around, trying to shake off the discomfort after fouling a ball off his leg just above his right shin guard, Soto could hardly believe his luck: two hours clear of the injured list and already hurt again.
Then Soto indeed shook it off, stepped back to the plate and ripped a 100.4 mph RBI single to right.
“He’s right up there with the absolute best hitters on the planet,” interim manager Andy Green said. “So it’s unsurprising that he finds his timing quicker than the rest of us do.”
That was the highlight of Soto’s return from the injured list on Saturday, five weeks and a day after he strained his left calf in a game against the Dodgers. The injury was Soto’s second calf strain of the season; the first, to his right leg, shelved him for only two and a half weeks. On both occasions, Soto returned without going on a Minor League rehab assignment.
In his first game back, starting at DH, Soto finished 1-for-4 in a 6-2 win over the Astros at Citi Field.
“This is the longest I had ever been out,” Soto said. “Day in, day out, I was just focused to try to come back. And we actually did it.”
The Mets, who have been in last place in the NL East since the start of June, have posted a 41-44 record (.482) in games that Soto played, and a 20-31 mark (.392) without him. But they have been a better team since the Trade Deadline, at one point winning 10 of 13 without Soto.
Watching that success from afar, Soto said, motivated him to come back as quickly as possible.
“He’s worked incredibly hard over the past couple of weeks,” Green said. “He’s done a lot of it behind the scenes without people seeing it. He’s done it when we’re on the road. He’s pushed himself in a way that frankly you don’t see a lot of veterans push themselves when your team is in this type of situation that we’re in. So I think that speaks volumes to his desire to be on the field, his desire to play.”
Widely considered one of the three or four best hitters in baseball, Soto was batting .283/.408/.539 with 21 homers at the time of his injury. That calf strain, which he briefly played through before exacerbating it against the Dodgers, resulted in him landing on the IL multiple times in a season for the first time in his career. Before straining his right calf in April, Soto hadn’t been there at all since 2021.
When Soto went on the IL a second time on July 25, it seemed possible that he could miss most or all of the regular season, given that a last-place Mets team had no incentive to rush him. But Soto charted a quick return regardless, taking live batting practice on the field earlier this week and going through a full workout on Friday.
“Loves the game,” was how Green described Soto. “Enjoys his teammates. Wants to be a part of winning baseball for the rest of the year.”
The last time Soto came off the IL, he also didn’t go on a rehab assignment. He wound up slumping briefly upon his return, with a .211 average over his first six games, before returning to his usual production levels after that.
At least initially, Green said, “there’s an element of [Soto’s return] that remains day-to-day.” Soto was in the starting lineup Saturday against the Astros as the designated hitter, and he will eventually receive reps in left field. But the Mets have also scheduled multiple off-days for Soto in the coming weeks, and if he communicates that he needs more than that, the club will accommodate him.
“I feel pretty comfortable, definitely with my calf,” Soto said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to remember I came [back] a little [quicker] than I expected. I didn’t do any rehab assignment. So my guess is I’m probably going to be DH’ing a little bit more. We’ll see when they decide to let me play in the outfield.”
For as long as Soto remains at DH, A.J. Ewing, Carson Benge and Luis Robert Jr. will occupy the outfield (though it’s possible Robert will be claimed off waivers in the coming days). Once Soto is ready to play the field, Ewing should still start in center field most days, with Benge in right and Soto sharing left-field duties with Robert -- or whoever replaces him.
“Where we’re at right now, there’s ample opportunity for them all to get on the field,” Green said.
The manager added that Soto’s return is important both from a production standpoint and a symbolic one, comparing Soto to Astros slugger and American League MVP frontrunner Yordan Alvarez.
“Juan is one of very few hitters in the game that has that impact,” Green said. “As soon as they see the lineup, it impacts how they attack hitters -- not just him, but around him, as well. I think that can have a compounding impact on us. But more than anything, I think just excited to get your best players back on the field.”