...
By Drew VonScio
Contributing Sports Writer
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
The New York Mets have decided to change Juan Soto's position for the upcoming season. For most of his career, he has predominantly been in right field. Starting this year, however, he will flip to the opposite corner in left field.
This decision comes a bit of a surprise as Soto hasn't struggled defensively. Mets general manager David Stearns revealed to insider Jim Bowden why they went ahead and made the change.
...
Read More on MLB
"David Stearns #Mets President made it clear to me when I asked him that the decision to move Soto to LF from RF did not include any analytics or evaluations instead it had to do with him playing LF in WBC and Soto view that he is comfortable in either OF corner," Bowden wrote on X on Tuesday.
To make the decision simply based on his position for the World Baseball Classic is strange to say the least. Even though Soto has played 4,000 innings of left field in his major league career, it's a position he hasn't touched since the 2024 season. In that year, he only recorded 52 innings before primarily focusing on right field.
It doesn't happen very often that a general manager comes out and says they're doing something simply because the player's national team is doing it. While that may have been the rationale, to the public, it could appear as if the Mets don't know what they're doing. To admit they didn't look at any analytics is even more difficult to believe.
Doing this could mean the organization may be turning over right field to top prospect Carson Benge. Right field is five feet shorter at Citi Field, so it could be a way of easing him into things at the major league level.
More MLB: Padres Trade Idea Sees Organization Add Veteran Pitcher From Red Sox
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines