Breaking news: Juan Soto’s initial reaction to dropping down the Mets lineup.

The initial reaction of the Mets fans to Juan Soto’s slide down the lineup won’t be positive.

Nothing would please New York Mets supporters more than for Juan Soto to go hot. The criticism of the $765 million man has been unrelenting since the disastrous Subway Series against the Yankees, which also marked Soto’s return to the Bronx and the time he battled severely. But Boston’s cold streak has persisted, so manager Carlos Mendoza benched him against the Red Sox on Wednesday, dropping him to third place. And Soto’s reaction to that move at the plate was as bad as it could get.

Once more, Soto’s response of taking Red Sox star Garrett Grochet over the Green Monster or around the Pesky Pole would have been ideal. However, the renowned outfielder would have needed to remove the bat from his shoulder in order to do that.

And against three pitches that were all in the strike zone from Crochet, Soto didn’t do it once, seeing the trio of offers all cross the plate and getting wrung up for a strikeout.

That won’t stop the naysayers, particularly those who accuse him of being too lazy or distant.

After dropping in the Mets lineup, Juan Soto provides more meat for the doubters.
You are correct if you are thinking, “Hey, this is baseball, and the good news is that Soto got another opportunity two innings later.” He did have another chance. Sadly, it was more of the same for Mets supporters. Soto struck out for the second time without moving the bat, and Crochet only threw four pitches—the first a ball and the following three strikes.

Without a doubt, the criticism leveled at Soto has been exaggerated. Some fans’ reactions, especially those of sour Yankees supporters, would lead one to conclude that he should be relegated to Triple-A. He still has an OPS of.807 for the season despite his two strikeouts versus Boston. As amazing as Soto has been, it’s not what Mets fans or any baseball fan anticipated to witness. It all comes down to expectations.

However, incidents like as his reaction at the bat after being demoted to third in the Mets lineup only serve to stoke criticism. Regardless of whether this is accurate, it seems like he’s becoming weaker in the face of difficulty, particularly following a subpar performance against his old team, the Yankees. If you are a Mets fan, it is not what you want to see in the first year of a ten-and-a-half commitment to him.

This is probably just a blip on the radar, given that he has been nothing but amazing in his career thus far. But for the time being, Mets supporters would likely be best off avoiding social media and simply donning noise-canceling headphones. The criticism of Soto isn’t going away anytime soon, and it will only become more vexing.