ST. LOUIS \u2014 Two hours before the scheduled first pitch on Wednesday, the New York Mets\u2019 clubhouse is quiet, prepared for a potential rain delay and a long travel day. In the corner, Juan Soto and Luis Robert lean back in their chairs, shooting the breeze in Spanish.<\/p>\n
This has become a daily scene in the clubhouse, be it in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in Queens or now in St. Louis. In each spot, Robert\u2019s locker has been situated near Soto\u2019s. At Citi Field, Soto\u2019s locker moved across the room from last year to the opposite corner, in Starling Marte\u2019s old spot, and right next to Robert\u2019s new one. Even on the road this week, Robert\u2019s locker is right next to Soto\u2019s.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s by design.<\/p>\n
When the Mets acquired Robert from the White Sox on Jan. 20, one of the first people he heard from was Soto, who has spent the months since ensuring that one of the crucial players for the 2026 Mets was as comfortable as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s definitely a player that has the ability to be one of the best in the game,\u201d Soto said, \u201cso why not make him feel comfortable and make him feel happy so he can give his 100 percent?\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Robert through interpreter Alan Suriel: \u201cOnce the trade became official and Juan reached out to me, I immediately felt he was someone I could rely on and someone who would help me get accustomed to the clubhouse when I arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s comfort has proven valuable. Through five games, he\u2019s 5-for-15 with four walks and the most important hit of the young season: an 11th-inning walk-off home run to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. It\u2019s the kind of start that significantly eases the pressure on a player coming to New York, the kind of start that justifies the Mets\u2019 early optimism that Robert could be an X-factor in their success.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time going through a trade,\u201d Robert said. \u201cWhen I first signed with the White Sox, I knew I would have Jos\u00e9 Abreu and Yoan Moncada because they\u2019re Cubans, so they helped me a lot. When I got traded here, having a player like Juan Soto in this clubhouse receiving me the way he did, I knew that it would help me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto knows the challenge of that transition, having lived it just last year. In his first two months with the Mets, he had a .770 OPS \u2014 good for most anybody, but not for Soto. His OPS was 1.005 the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important when you\u2019re coming to a new team to be really welcomed,\u201d Soto said. \u201cI definitely feel like it opens a door for you to feel comfortable in a place. When you\u2019re happy and comfortable in a place, that\u2019s when you\u2019re going to give 100 percent and everything good is going to come out of you.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you\u2019re not playing your best, the vibe that you bring every day because you feel comfortable in that place is going to be through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the day both players arrived for spring training, Soto and Robert moved in tandem. During drills, Soto stood by Robert\u2019s side. When it was time to go from one station to the other, Soto and Robert walked together.<\/p>\n
\u201cJuan has been tremendous for Luis, honestly,\u201d Mets first-base coach Gilbert Gomez said. \u201cIt seems that Juan was trying to make Luis feel as comfortable as possible within those early days of spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added manager Carlos Mendoza: \u201cJuan is taking that leadership role, especially with those guys that are with him all the time. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s not going to show the whole world what he\u2019s doing. He likes to do things behind the scenes, and we\u2019ve seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship between Soto and Robert isn\u2019t new. The two have grown closer since Robert hired Scott Boras as his agent two years ago. Since then, Soto and Robert have worked out together, including last offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched him from afar all these years before and saw how he plays and how he does everything,\u201d Robert said. \u201cThen when you meet him, you see how he does things up close and personal, it\u2019s a really good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto wanted the two to have neighboring lockers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working out together, we\u2019ve been hanging out together for a little bit, so why not have a brother next to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The new locker assignments follow an offseason during which their clubhouse dynamics were scrutinized.<\/p>\n
Last year, flanking one of the two entrances to the clubhouse, Soto and Francisco Lindor resided near one another. Lindor remains in the same spot, which was once David Wright\u2019s locker. Soto is now on the opposite side of the room.<\/p>\n
Typically, a player\u2019s service time plays a big role in what locker he ends up at. The Mets also generally place players in the same position group together. Marcus Semien, the club\u2019s new second baseman, holds Soto\u2019s old spot.<\/p>\n
A week into Robert\u2019s tenure with the Mets, his personality and performance are taking center stage because he is comfortable \u2014 thanks, in part, to the team\u2019s biggest star.<\/p>\n
Soto\u2019s embrace of Robert is yet another sign of his own growing comfort in his second season in Queens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Juan,\u201d Mendoza said, \u201che knows this is home for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto is trying to make it feel that way for others, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LOUIS \u2014 Two hours before the scheduled first pitch on Wednesday, the New York Mets\u2019 clubhouse is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,320,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-182462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-mets","11":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}