Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

This Is the Worst 50-Game Start in Juan Soto’s Career

Not the Juan Soto we know...

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

At some point, the numbers stop lying and start whispering the uncomfortable truth: Juan Soto is off to the worst start of his career.

That sentence alone is jarring. Because Juan Soto isn’t just a good hitter, he’s Juan Soto. The one who, after a near-MVP campaign in 2024, signed a $765 million megadeal to be the centerpiece of the New York Mets’ next era.

But through 50 games in 2025, Juan Soto has looked mortal. Maybe even a little lost. He’s hitting .236 with eight home runs, 21 RBI, and a .786 OPS. His on-base percentage, typically glued above .400, is sitting at .369. His slugging percentage is under .420. These aren’t awful numbers, but they aren’t Soto numbers. And for a player who just signed the richest contract in baseball history, the expectations don’t allow for slow burns.

Worst 50-game start in Soto’s career https://t.co/NLzmHtebXt
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 26, 2025

Yes, he hit .236 back in 2022 too. But that version of Soto still posted a .382 OBP and a .831 OPS, and that was considered a down year. And because it’s New York, everything is louder. Each hitless night fuels another theory. Is it the pressure of the contract? Regret over picking the Mets? Homesick for the Bronx?

ALSO READ: ‘He’s Human’: Carlos Mendoza Isn’t About to Pile On Juan Soto

Some have even floated the idea that Soto can’t handle New York. But that doesn’t hold much water. He just spent a season at Yankee Stadium, a place where every at-bat is a referendum. If you can hit there, you can hit anywhere, and Citi Field doesn’t come close to matching the Bronx for hostility. If anything, this should feel easier. It hasn’t, not yet.

Which makes the early-season funk even harder to pin down. It might just be baseball being baseball, cruel, illogical, and deeply frustrating. One tweet pointing out Soto’s slow start drew a top reply that read: “He should request a trade.” Which, given the timing and price tag, is hilarious in the way only baseball panic can be.

He should request a trade.
— Ben (@TheHurricaneBen) May 26, 2025

And yet, baseball doesn’t freeze-frame.

Juan Soto is Back? Or At Least Close to Getting Back?

Still, signs of life emerged over the weekend. On Saturday against the Dodgers, Soto roped a two-run double with the bases loaded – his first extra-base hit since May 9, and just his sixth hit with runners in scoring position all year. He followed that up on Sunday with another hit, an RBI, and even a stolen base as the Mets clinched the series.

Juan Soto smacked the hell out of this one
pic.twitter.com/vL5yvdaVuP
— Mets'd Up Podcast (@MetsdUp) May 25, 2025

The Mets, at 32–21, aren’t asking Soto to save them. But they are waiting for their $765 million centerpiece to start looking like one. Nobody’s panicking. Not yet. The swing still works. The plate discipline is still there. The track record is impossible to ignore.

ALSO READ: The Best Pitcher in Baseball? He’s in Detroit, and His Name Is Tarik Skubal

But right now, this is the worst 50-game start of his career. And in a town that knows how to keep receipts, that’s the kind of thing that stick, at least until it doesn’t.

Juan Soto

Mets

Mohsin Baldiwala

mlb

Mohsin Baldiwala is a Master’s student in Journalism and freelance content producer who got hooked on baseball through Seinfeld’s hapless George Costanza. The same reason why he’s a Yankees fan. He writes about sports because he believes it can offer a brief escape from the world’s chaos. Even if that means enduring the heartbreak of the 2024 World Series.