UPDATE: Soto was scratched from Sunday’s lineup due to an illness, according to the team. It seems he should be back in action soon, and, at the worst, day-to-day.
Juan Soto was scratched from the Mets’ lineup for today’s game against the Marlins, a late change that puts New York’s biggest bat back on the day-to-day radar. The club has not yet provided a full public explanation for the scratch, so the immediate read is simple: monitor the pregame update, then watch whether this is precautionary or tied to anything lower-body.
Soto has already had a stop-start spring. He went on the 10-day injured list in early April with a right calf strain and was activated April 22. He also had a brief scare earlier this month after fouling a ball off his foot/ankle, though X-rays came back negative and he returned to the lineup the next day.
The timing is frustrating because Soto had started to heat up again. He’s at .294 with 10 HR, 21 RBI and a .949 OPS this season, and he had two hits, including a 449-foot homer, in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Miami.
For the Mets, the short-term impact is obvious: a lineup already trying to stabilize loses its highest-gravity hitter. If this is a maintenance scratch, it is a one-day annoyance. If it is connected to the calf, ankle or foot, it becomes a much larger concern heading into the rest of the holiday weekend slate.
