Juan Soto made his New York Mets debut on Saturday, albeit in spring training, and thrilled the crowd by homering in his very first at-bat. The moment was close to perfect, unless you were one particular teammate of his.
Soto went deep off Houston Astros pitcher Colton Gordon in the bottom of the first of Saturday’s spring training game, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
The crowd at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla. went absolutely nuts in response.
Speaking to the media after his exit from the game, Soto divulged that the moment had been pretty much perfect except for one thing. The star outfielder revealed that he left teammate Jesse Winker in pain after stepping on him in the dugout following the homer.
“I feel like everybody was really happy. I would say the worst reaction was Jesse Winker. I stepped on him,” Soto said. “He was really in pain but he was happy at the same time.”
The Mets can probably live with Winker taking a minor injury from Soto, so long as it is not the other way around. Of course, Soto has demonstrated that he has the finances to make it up to Winker if he has to.
Soto’s debut will only heighten expectations after the outfielder signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets during the offseason. He delivered an RBI groundout in his second plate appearance Saturday, and was then lifted from the game.
As for Winker, he can be a bit of an agitator that can spark controversy with opponents. Soto probably won’t want to make an enemy of him, but if Winker getting stepped on leads to more home runs, that is probably a trade-off that everyone involved will make.
