Juan Soto, an outfielder with the New York Mets, has been the target of a lot of unjustified criticism. Because he declined to be mic’d during a game or speak to the media during the most recent Subway Series, some are claiming he isn’t displaying enough enthusiasm. This is probably because he was going to be asked the same questions about the Yankees and Aaron Judge that he has been asked ever since he signed a contract with the Mets.
Juan Soto, an outfielder with the New York Mets, has been the target of a lot of unjustified criticism. Because he declined to be mic’d during a game or speak to the media during the most recent Subway Series, some are claiming he isn’t displaying enough enthusiasm. This is probably because he was going to be asked the same questions about the Yankees and Aaron Judge that he has been asked ever since he signed a contract with the Mets.
But Soto is far from the main cause in the Mets’ current difficulties. He’s not even failing the team. Right now, there are much bigger issues than Soto. Soto is not to blame; these three Mets players are.
1) Luisangel Acuna
Luisangel Acuna earned NL Rookie of the Month for March and April after he batted .288/.342/.356 with a 102 wRC+ in 79 plate appearances. He earned a walk in 7.6% of his plate appearances but maintained up a K% below 20% at 19.1%. Despite his lackluster overall performance, he made up for it with strong base running, rating above the 95th percentile of sprint speed and going seven for eight in stolen base attempts. Additionally, he is rated as a defensive second baseman who is above average.
But May has caused Acuna some serious issues. In 49 plate appearances, he is hitting a pitiful.233/.292/.256 with a.252 wOBA and 60 wRC+. His already poor isolated slugging percentage has dropped to just.023, and he isn’t even getting to base quickly enough to justify his exceptional speed. With at least 40 plate appearances in May, he has by far the lowest wRC+ of any Met, falling behind Pete Alonso, who is still at 76.
Even though Acuna is a second baseman with exceptional speed and defense, his 60 wRC+ and win percentage added (WPA) of -0.47 are insufficient. His worth as a base runner is severely limited by an OBP below.300. He is having a far more detrimental effect than Juan Soto’s lack of MVP performance.
2) Mark Vientos
Mark Vientos looked like he could be one of the top sluggers at third base after a breakout 2024 season. Last season, he hit .266/.322/.516 with a .356 wOBA and 133 wRC+ in 454 plate appearances. Sure, he struck out almost 30% of the time with a 29.7% K% and had a sub-par 7.3% walk rate, but he blasted 27 long balls, and his .249 isolated slugging percentage topped all NL third basemen with at least 300 plate appearances. Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians was the only third baseman in the league to surpass Vientos.
But Vientos has had a difficult 2025. He has only made 187 trips to the plate and is batting.232/.299/.375. At.143, his isolated slugging percentage has decreased by little over 100 points. His walk rate has increased to 8.6%, and he has drastically reduced strikeouts, with a 21.4% K%. These are the only positives. But his barrel rate has suffered as a result of that decline, falling from 14.1% in 2024 to only 6.9% this year. Vientos’s wOBA and wRC+ are.298 and 92, respectively.
In contrast to Acuna, Vientos isn’t at least useful as a defender or on the bases. He leads the NL 3Bs in both defensive runs saved (-7), and outs over average (-6). Junior Caminero is the only player with lower OAA in the hot corner, and Luis Rengifo and Gio Urshela are the only third basemen with worse DRS. Additionally, his sprint speed is just in the 22nd percentile.
Vientos is the only Mets player with zero fWAR in 100+ plate appearances and has the sixth-lowest WPA (-0.55) among the league’s 21 third basemen with at least 150 plate appearances. He is not even close to replicating his 2024, which is a bigger burden on the Mets’ lineup than anything Soto has done this season.
3) Starling Marte
Starling Marte hasn’t been at his best over the last two seasons. He batted.269/.327/.388 with a.313 wOBA and 104 wRC+ in 370 plate appearances last year in 2024, which was somewhat above average. While he may not be the speed demon he was in his peak, he still went 16-17 in stolen base attempts. But Marte’s defense was awful at best, with -6 DRS and -8 OAA in the outfield.
Marte was set to be the right-handed hitting platoon partner for fellow veteran Jesse Winker. However, Winker’s oblique injury in early May has just magnified Marte’s poor hitting at the plate. In 93 plate appears, Marte is slashing . 203/.313/.316, 91 wRC+, and.290 wOBA. Although Marte can’t hit right-handed pitching at this stage of his career, his.331 xwOBA indicates that he could still have some left in him.
He is on track to have a sub-90 wRC+ against same-handed pitching for the third consecutive season with a 78 wRC+ versus RHP. This season, even his performance versus lefties has been lacking. He had a.844 OPS,.368 wOBA, and 141 against a southpaw last year. His current record versus opposite-handed hurlers is a meager.667 OPS,.307 wOBA, and 99 wRC+. If he is unable to demonstrate more vitality against LHP, the Mets may need to search for a possible replacement at the trade deadline.
Marte’s sprint speed is now in the 13th percentile, which is comparable to Soto’s. Additionally, he has only pitched 10 innings this season in the outfield. Without a question, Marte has been a far greater liability on the Mets’ roster than anything Soto has done this season if he isn’t even hitting effectively against lefties, which was the only thing that was expected of him this season.
