NEW YORK \u2014 After vowing to return from his latest calf injury before the end of the season, Juan Soto came back before the end of August, a full month before the New York Mets enter their offseason.<\/p>\n
Indeed, there is no playoff push that Soto is returning to help. Not with the Mets (61-75) 12 games back in the chase for the National League\u2019s final wild card spot with 26 games left.<\/p>\n
Soto missed approximately five weeks because of a left calf strain. In April, a right calf strain cost Soto just under three weeks of action. In both cases, Soto rejoined the Mets without a rehab assignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really frustrating to be down and not being able to help your team \u2026 to not perform out there, have fun with the boys,\u201d Soto said after the Mets beat the Houston Astros, 6-2, on Saturday. \u201cThat keeps me motivated to be out there again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the Mets\u2019 place in the standings and the fact Soto dealt with not one, but two calf injuries, not to mention his importance to the organization\u2019s future as their $765 million man, a valid question looms: Why bother?<\/p>\n
There are a few reasons why no one was interested in shutting Soto down. Generally speaking, healthy baseball players should play baseball. Soto returned within the timetable that interim manager Andy Green offered at the time of Soto\u2019s injury in late July (four to six weeks); he is physically in a spot where the Mets clearly feel comfortable having him on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has pushed himself in a way that, frankly, you don\u2019t see a lot of veterans push themselves when your team is in this type of situation that we\u2019re in,\u201d Green said. \u201cThat speaks volumes to his desire to be on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is also a potential upshot for next season.<\/p>\n
Soto returning from an injury late in a lost season could help set a tone for next year. The Mets want to establish a strong clubhouse culture. They are looking to build on a core of young players in their first and second years. It is important that their stars and veterans set examples.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not overstating it at all,\u201d starting pitcher Sean Manaea said. \u201cIt\u2019s sick. It\u2019s like a warrior mentality. A lot of guys have that. It\u2019s basically him saying, \u2018I want to be great.\u2019 I\u2019ve seen him do his rehab every day. If he is feeling good and wants to come back, that\u2019s sick. Everyone here definitely appreciates the work he puts in and him wanting to come back this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto said the Mets\u2019 14-9 record since their selloff at the Aug. 3 trade deadline provided him some additional motivation.<\/p>\n
Also: When you\u2019re as good at something as Soto is at hitting baseballs, you tend to want to do it. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that, either, and it sure beats the alternative. Heading into Saturday\u2019s game, Soto, an All-Star this season, had a .947 OPS with 21 home runs in 359 plate appearances.<\/p>\n
Of course, the Mets would look awfully silly if Soto experiences another calf issue. There is inherent risk when any player takes the field. Perhaps more so when one is coming off an injury. On the flip side, the Mets\u2019 other choice would be to sit a star player for the final four weeks who can play. Soto, who served as the Mets\u2019 designated hitter on Saturday, might receive an occasional day off, but for the most part, he is back to play.<\/p>\n
Ahead of his return, Soto went through multiple workouts that included live batting practice, running the bases and fielding drills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of work done here behind the scenes,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt was being done in a way that he tested it, it felt good and felt confident. The training staff felt good and confident. Anyone who put eyes on it felt good and confident about how he was doing the work and what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto\u2019s first plate appearance Saturday was met with a standing ovation from those who chose to show up at Citi Field. He went 1-for-4. In the fifth inning, Soto fouled a ball off his right leg, eliciting a grimace from him and attention from both an athletic trainer and Green. On the next pitch, however, Soto laced an RBI single to right field to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Later in the inning, Soto scored from second base on Jared Young\u2019s triple.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really frustrating at the time \u2014 everything went through my mind,\u201d Soto said with a smile when asked about taking the ball off his shin. \u201cDefinitely, I tried to stay positive, think the best way possible to get out of it. Little by little, I was getting better. I just said, f\u2014 it, I am going to try to push through it, not take too long. I gotta be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 After vowing to return from his latest calf injury before the end of the season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,1189,99],"class_list":["post-830505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}