David Lennon: All's right with Juan Soto moving to leftfield for Mets
Juan Soto at Citi Field last September. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — As long as Juan Soto remained in rightfield for the Mets, the “run-prevention” part of David Stearns’ winter makeover would feel incomplete, if not a hollow attempt at truly upgrading the club’s identity in that department.
But it’s never simple to move someone like Soto, despite his glaring deficiencies on the glove side, especially just one season into a 15-year, $765 million contract. Stearns turning his back on Pete Alonso and shipping Brandon Nimmo to Texas were relatively easy compared to dislodging Soto from his Citi Field perch — until the Mets were lucky enough to have the World Baseball Classic intervene.
At least that’s what Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza told us Tuesday in announcing that Soto would now be the Mets’ starting leftfielder for the 2026 season — a fortuitous bounce attributed to him currently working out at that position for the Dominican Republic squad.
Stearns said the decision to bump to Soto to the opposite corner spot came about “organically” through a series of offseason conversations between Mendoza and the four-time All-Star, though the Mets’ president of baseball operations could barely contain his glee during Tuesday’s media briefing at Clover Park. Sure, the Nimmo swap got him a Gold Glove second baseman in Marcus Semien and trading for Luis Robert Jr. finally landed the Mets a legitimate everyday centerfielder, but his big winter signings were head-scratchers from a defensive standpoint.
Jorge Polanco doesn’t even have a full inning under his belt at first base and Bo Bichette will be making his MLB debut at third, so neither really fit Stearns’ “run-prevention” mantra, unless you consider the subtraction of Alonso from that corner-infield equation. Shifting Soto to leftfield, however, should reap immediate dividends. He wasn’t just a poor defender in his Flushing debut. The numbers show he was among the worst rightfielders in the sport, tied with Nick Castellanos for dead-last in outs above average (minus-12) and second from the bottom in defensive runs saved (minus-7).
So along comes the WBC, and with the Dominican team planning to use Fernando Tatis Jr. in right for next month’s tournament, Soto went back to working out in left this winter — the position he played during his early years with the Nationals and some in San Diego (458 starts total in his eight-year career). Although clubs often worry about the WBC’s impact on their preparation for the regular season, this introduced a welcome change.
“He felt really comfortable there,” Stearns said. “It made sense for us from a roster perspective, so we’re going to go forward with it and everyone’s on board. It’s not something we had really contemplated coming into the offseason. But as we’ve had conversations over the last month, it made sense for all involved to do this.”
The way Mendoza described the process, he sounded surprised that Soto was amenable to the switch so quickly. Managers tend to tread lightly around their biggest stars, particularly the ones with contracts approaching a billion dollars, but Mendoza seemed helpful in facilitating the move. Anyone with eyes recognized that Soto struggled with Citi’s expansive rightfield lawn and irregular dimensions, so this is a major step toward correcting that issue.
Mendoza recalled going back and forth with Soto about both positions as they discussed the WBC, and by late December, the conversations headed in the leftfield direction — with the manager floating the idea to Stearns.
“I just asked him, how would you feel playing leftfield for us?” Mendoza said. “And he was like, ‘I’m willing to do whatever. If you want me to pitch, Mendy, I’ll pitch’ kind of with that smile. Then I told him, now seriously speaking here, is that something you will consider, if it makes sense for both? He said absolutely . . . whatever the team needs.”
In retrospect, that also was around the same time the Mets made their out-of-the-blue push for Kyle Tucker, who primarily has been a rightfielder during his eight-year career — and presumably was going to move to left if he wound up in Queens. Turns out, the Mets already had designs on shifting Soto instead, although it became a moot point when Tucker spurned their four-year, $220 million offer to go to the Dodgers on a four-year, $240 million deal.
There’s no question the Mets just got better with Soto in leftfield. As for who’s taking over for him in right, Stearns would probably prefer Carson Benge to win that job out of spring training, but Tyrone Taylor is the most experienced glove and Brett Baty — who’s slotted to be more of a super-utility player — will now get reps in rightfield along with the newly-acquired MJ Melendez.
“We’ve been consistent throughout the offseason that Carson is going to come to camp with a chance to make our team,” Stearns said. “That remains the same. He’s played a lot of rightfield during his time in the minor leagues. We’re confident with him out there. We also think Brett’s going to be able to adjust out there just fine. We’ve got a lot of athletic outfielders . . . so having rightfield available to them isn’t a bad outcome.”
In a winter of change for the Mets, Soto switching positions is one wrinkle nobody really saw coming — at least not yet. He’ll be a DH eventually, sooner rather than later, but this will do for now.
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.
