Grading the NY Mets trade with the Orioles for Gregory Soto

The New York Mets have made their first big trade as we approach the 2025 MLB trade deadline. They have acquired hard-throwing left-handed pitcher Gregory Soto from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for minor league pitchers Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster. The Mets finally land their go-to left-hander since the season-ending injuries to both A.J. Minter and Danny Young. However, how did the Mets do overall in this deal?

Soto has pitched 36.1 innings on the year, working to a 3.96 ERA, 3.29 FIP, and 1.29 WHIP. His 27.5% K% is a career-high watermark (aside from his 2020 season). Soto has always struggled with walks and has an 11.3% BB% this year. Soto has always been great at limiting home runs, but 2025 has been on another level for him. His 0.50 HR/9 is another career-best, as is his 4.3% barrel percentage. The latter is in the 94th percentile of pitchers this season.

Overall, Soto is one of the better left-handed relievers in baseball this season. His K%-BB% of 16.3% is the 19th best among the 51 qualified LHRPs in baseball. He also has the 19th-best FIP, 23rd-best SIERA, and 13th-best Stuff+ mark. Soto averages out around 97 MPH with his sinker and fastball, while also mixing in a slider and sweeper.

How did the Mets end up doing in the Gregory Soto swap?

One of the young pitchers the Mets are sending back is Wellington Aracena. The Mets signed the right-hander out of the Dominican Republic in January 2022 and is putting up quality numbers at St. Lucie in his age-20 campaign. He has tossed 64.1 innings, working to a 2.38 ERA, 2.54 FIP, and 1.13 WHIP. He has had no problems getting swings and misses and strikeouts, with a 37.4% whiff percentage and 31.7% K%. He has avoided hard contact like the plague, with a 1% barrel rate, and allowing no home runs so far this season. The downside is that he has a 13.2% walk rate. 

Wellington is ranked as the Mets’ 28th-best prospect by Baseball America. He uses a four-pitch mix, headlined by an upper-90s fastball that tops out at 101. His cutter sits in the low-90s, while his curveball comes in around the mid-80s. He will also occasionally fold in a low-90s change-up with similar velocity to his cutter. There is no question about the quality of his stuff, but his control is a red flag. 

The other player the Mets are sending to the O’s is Cameron Foster. The Mets took Foster in the 14th round of the 2022 draft. A reliever coming out of McNeese State, the Mets tried Foster as a starting pitcher, but the results were mixed at best. He has since transitioned back to the bullpen and has performed relatively well.

Most of Foster’s innings pitched have been at Double-A Binghamton, where he had a 1.01 ERA, 1.26 FIP, and 0.83 WHIP over 26.2 IP. He struck out 34% of opponents with a walk rate of just 5%. Better yet, he had a 50% ground ball rate and didn’t allow a single home run. Foster has pitched 3.2 innings at Triple-A Syracuse, but has allowed seven earned runs. Foster is an unranked prospect, by both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, and throws a four-seamer, curveball, slider, and cutter.

The Mets are only getting a rental reliever from Soto, but a good one nonetheless. Giving up Aracena is giving up a high-ceiling prospect. He is already hitting 101 MPH as a 20-year-old in A-Ball. Improving his command to even a 45-grade level will make him an effective pitcher in the future. They are also selling high on Foster, capitalizing on his strong performance at Double-A.

The flipside to that is Aracena is still only at A-Ball with control issues, and Foster is 26 with less than five innings pitched at Triple-A. Meanwhile, the Mets are getting a proven Major League reliever in Soto, who has experience as a closing pitcher, and could be a big help down the line and into the Postseason for the Mets.

Final Grade: B+