Juan Soto Discusses Relationship with Mets Teammates, Carlos Beltrán’s Advice

Juan Soto sat down with Katherine Hernández on the Siendo Honestos podcast to discuss everything from why he chose the Mets, to his relationship with the players, to where the best Dominican food in NYC is.

Soto mentioned that the value of the contracts he had in front of him were very similar and that the differences came more from the fine print. He said in the end it was a family decision and, “we all sat down, analyzed and checked what was best for me and my family and that’s how we made the decision.”

It has been well-documented how important family is to Soto. He said his entire family still get together at his mother’s house for Christmas.

“My mom always makes sure the whole family gets together on the 24th to have dinner at my house, to have a good time, wherever we were living. It doesn’t matter if we were in the neighborhood, if we were already a little better off, in a residential area, wherever, but that the whole family gets together for dinner and to enjoy the moment.”

He mentioned that all of the hitters have a group chat they are constantly communicating through and that the pitchers have their own chat as well. He mentioned being close with his teammates and said of the Mets players, “there’s something very nice, we have a very young group and team inside the Mets team. So we always get along well, we’re always talking, asking how the guys feel and all that.”

Both Soto and the Mets have discussed his drive to continually improve his defense in the outfield. During the Winter Meetings, manager Carlos Mendoza spoke about how he, Soto and new Mets bench coach Kai Correa had met to go over Soto’s defense training plan for the offseason and described Soto as “wanting to be coached.”

When asked whether offense of defense is more important Soto stated, “They say out there that offense wins many games, but defense wins championships. You deduce from there.”

Carlos Beltrán, former Met and current special assistant to the president of baseball operations, helped Soto work through his slow start in Queens.

“He told me last year that always when I was doing a little poorly, he told me, ‘Always remember who you are,’” Soto said.

Soto spoke about growing up in the Dominican Republic playing for the “love of the game”. As he got older, he said his mother told him he could only play as long as he kept his grades up. He cited Manny Ramírez and Robinson Canó as two players he modeled his play after. He also described how important his success is for future baseball players from the Dominican Republic.

“I know I opened many doors, not only for me, but for the Dominican Republic, for the athletes of the Dominican Republic. I know it was one more step for baseball here in the Dominican Republic. Many people didn’t believe that a Dominican could reach the point where we are right now.”

In the interview he also discussed how the contracts signed by Fernando Tatís Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Geraldo Perdomo have made a difference to help set up the success of future Dominicans.

Finally, Soto discussed what he loves the most about living in New York City: the food.

“There are so many very good places there. And I’ve gone to Washington Heights, I’ve gone to Midtown, I’ve gone to the Lower East Side, everywhere trying to find what can you eat because I tell you because I know many Dominicans who haven’t spent 24 hours in New York they tell you, “I already want a plate of rice, I’m going to Washington Heights and I don’t want to know anything about down there in Manhattan.”

The interview was recorded in Spanish and translated using Claude

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