Juan Soto is making it too easy for NY Mets fans to be overly critical

Juan Soto has been the star of New York Mets discussions and not necessarily for the right reasons. His slow start to the season added in with a return to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees this weekend have made him one of the most-discussed players in the league. With big contracts come big microscopes.

Soto hasn’t been a complete disaster. His power has been light, his clutch hits have been missing, and his defense has been worse than we hoped. Soto is getting on base regularly. Unfortunately, he hasn’t always been in a rush to get there.

Two straight days, Soto was caught with a lack of hustle. Sunday was a groundout up the middle which could have been a situation where he beat out an infield single. On Monday, a long single off the Big Green Monster became almost moot only because he managed to steal second base on the next pitch.

Even if Juan Soto made up for his lack of hustle, he’s making it easy for Mets fans to criticize him

Hustle. Loyalty. Respect. John Cena needs to show up at Citi Field to give Soto some tips. Too bad he’s a villain now. An attitude adjustment might have done the star outfielder some good.

It’s those pillars of Cena’s boring run as a babyface in WWE that he lived by. All fans want to see their players hustle. They want loyalty. Fans wanted to be respected.

The loyalty and respect parts can be subjective. Yankees fans certainly don’t feel like Soto had much of it. And by leaving them, they felt disrespected. Hustle is rarely up for debate. You can tell when it’s happening or not immediately.

Soto isn’t fast but he’s also not slow per se. His sprint speed is barely faster than the team’s slowest players, Starling Marte and Pete Alonso. Soto went into Monday at 25.7 feet per second versus their 25.6. He ranks 43rd among players in the league his age. It’s the lowest ranking of any Mets position player when measured against players of the same age.

Monday’s lack of hustle didn’t make a difference because a stolen base and a walk followed. Then came a double play off the bat of Brandon Nimmo. It doesn’t change the frustration with Soto who was the talk of New York City on Monday following a series loss to the Yankees. Questions of his enjoyment as a member of the Mets and whatnot was all the rage on social media. And with this latest example, the virtual water cooler at work on Tuesday will have some added fodder with yet another day of Soto taking his time.