Francisco Lindor And Juan Soto Have Taken Different Paths To The Same Place

Francisco Lindor started the 2025 season 0-for-12. That is not how he wanted to get going (especially after slow starts in New York three of the previous four years).

But, by the end of April, Lindor was slashing .308/.372/.500, with half a dozen home runs. By the end of May, those numbers had come down a bit, but still looked pretty darn strong: .283/.356/.839, with 12 home runs, in just over one-third of a season.

Lindor, who shockingly, has never been voted in as an All-Star, looked poised to make his first appearance in the Mid-Summer Classic in enemy territory in Atlanta in July. To be fair, over the course of his career, he has been considerably better in the second half, with every metric except home runs looking more robust once the weather really starts to warm up, so his failure to be voted in by the fans in not altogether surprising.

Juan Soto, making his debut as the $765 million man (which could actually be the $805 million man) in Queens, definitely wanted to start hot. He had a whole borough hanging on his every swing; he had a whole union hoping he performed up to his contract (is that possible?) so that the average annual value and/or the total amount he received did not become an outlier, but rather a sign of the times. On Opening Day, after Lindor lined out as the first batter, Soto wasted no time, getting his first hit as a Met on the second pitch he saw. In fact, he got a hit in each of his first four games; and a hit in ten out of his first eleven; and 13 out of his first 17. He added three home runs in that span.

But after going 0-for-5 in Game #18, he was batting a paltry .231, and only slugging .431. Fans in Queens were starting to get nervous. The pages of every newspaper in New York were beginning to question the wisdom of the signing. This was a 15-year deal; was it a bust after just six weeks? On June 3rd, after going 1-for-5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when he was slashing .233/.361/.438, manager Carlos Mendoza simply said: “He’s going to be fine. He’s Juan Soto.”

Soto actually bottomed out two days later. An 0-for-3 against the Dodgers slunk his line down to .229/.367/.430. But what followed were hits in three straight games, and multiple hits in four out of five games, and a a modest five-game hitting streak. Slowly, but surely, he once again became Juan Soto. In should be noted that he was always Juan Soto — his on base percentage has never dropped below .351, and is currently hovering at close to .400.

When June ended, Soto — who started so slowly that fans were trying to ship him back to the Bronx — was slashing .258/.394/.507, with 20 home runs.

And Lindor, who started the season with such promise, and who will probably be the National League’s starting shortstop in a couple of weeks at the All-Star Game, is slashing .258/.327/.447, with 16 home runs. Those numbers are nothing to sneeze at, but they are all below his typical 162-game average. And they are now below Soto.

It is just incredible to think where we started and where we are today. There is no question that both Lindor and Soto will end the year just fine. They will, of course, need to be more than just fine to get the Mets to the postseason. The club is 3-13 in their last 16 games, and have fallen out of first place, currently sitting two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies. But, they are 1.5 games up in the Wild Card race, and nine full games up on the scuffling and injured Atlanta Braves. There is a ton of time left for them to retake the division lead; and, absent that, to find another way to punch their ticket to October.

Regardless of what the stat sheet says, Lindor and Soto remain two of the most exciting and entertaining players in the game. Baseball is a long season, and there is a reason front office types don’t rely on small sample sizes. And if you need any further proof, just look at these two guys.