Inside The Mets

How Juan Soto may have helped Pete Alonso return to Mets

New York Mets slugger Juan Soto clearly wanted Pete Alonso to be his teammate.

Grant Young

Apr 4, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto (22) celebrates with first baseman Pete Alonso (20) and shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Apr 4, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto (22) celebrates with first baseman Pete Alonso (20) and shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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When speaking with the media on April 8, New York Mets slugger Juan Soto spoke about the benefit of having Pete Alonso hitting behind him in the lineup.

"I feel like it's really good," Soto said of him and Alonso being back-to-back in the lineup, per SNY. "First of all, to have a chance if I can do more damage and stuff. But whenever they don't want to pitch to me, I know I have a guy behind me that can make it worse for them, so I'm really happy about that."

Soto has made it clear several times in the past how much he valued having New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hitting behind him in the Yankees' lineup during the 2024 season, which he seems to think was a big reason why both he and Judge had MVP-caliber campaigns.

And in an April 10 article from ESPN's Jorge Castillo, a quote from Soto conveys how much he valued Alonso being back on the Mets in his decision to sign there.

Read more: Pete Alonso reveals stance on possible contract extension with Mets

"That was one of the essential parts of the discussion," Soto said in the interview when talking about his free agency conversations with the Mets. "Who was going to bat behind me?"

Soto was later quoted as saying, "I told them the best option was [Alonso]."

What's interesting is that Soto ultimately agreed to sign with the Mets about two months before Alonso re-signed, which meant that Soto seemingly took a leap of faith that the front office would get the Alonso deal done.

And this leal of faith has resulted in a lot of success to this point in the MLB season.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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