Juan Soto has reached some rarefied statistical air in his first season with the Mets.
The $765 million slugger became the first player in team history to compile at least 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a single season with his solo blast in the seventh inning Saturday, but the feat became more of a footnote as the Mets bullpen flushed another late lead for their eighth straight loss, 3-2 to the Rangers at Citi Field.
“It’s great. … It’s really impressive,” Soto said, “but we have bigger things out there in front of us that we have to go out there and get it.”
Howard Johnson had managed 41 steals along with 36 home runs for the Mets in 1989, but no one ever had accomplished the feat with at least 40 homers.
Soto, who has a career best with 32 steals, also became just the fifth player in franchise history to go deep 40 times. He joined teammate Pete Alonso (three times), Todd Hundley, Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza.
It marks the 16th time in baseball history a player has totaled at least 40 homers and 30 steals in one season — a group that includes Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Shohei Ohtani.
“For me, it means a lot,” Soto said earlier this week when asked about the possibility. “It’s part of the journey of your career. But at the end, you’ve just got to think about the team. If you accomplish that, what we’re trying to do here is just help the team as much as I can.”
Soto’s 40th, a solo blast to right off Texas lefty Hoby Milner in the seventh extended the Mets lead to 2-0. But the Rangers came back to even the score with two runs against Tyler Rogers and Edwin Díaz in the eighth before adding the go-ahead run against Díaz one inning later to extend the Mets losing streak.
The 26-year-old Soto registered a career-high 41 home runs in his lone season with the Yankees in 2024. He had never managed more than 12 stolen bases in any one season over his first seven years in the majors, but he efficiently has been successful on 32 of 35 attempts (91.4 percent) with the Mets.
“It’s all the hard work we’ve been putting in since the beginning of the season,” Soto said, once again crediting first base coach Antoan Richardson for his career-high 32 steals. “Great job by Antoan. I really appreciate what he’s been doing with me and how he’s been working with me.”
Soto also singled with one out in the ninth inning with the Mets trailing by one run, but the Mets were unable once again to pull out a victory.
“One hundred percent … this is a playoff team,” Soto said. “We just gotta stay with our composure, stay with our heads up and believe in ourselves and believe in what we have.
“Definitely we believe in every single guy in here, trying our best and trying to come through. We’re playing our a– off every night, it’s just not going our way.”
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