Juan Soto was officially voted to the National League All-Star team yesterday. Soto was voted a starter and finished second in votes among NL outfielders, trailing only Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh. He will join Marsh and Andy Pages in the outfield and will presumably start in left.
Soto enters play today with a .296/.404/.560 slash line after going 1-for-4 in last night’s ugly 14-3 loss. Soto leads all National League hitters in OPS (.964), OBP (.404) and wRC+ (163) and has 18 home runs, 39 runs scored, and 41 runs batted in over 70 games played this season.
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This will be the first time he’s been selected to the All-Star team as a Met. Last year, Soto got off to a slow start, which sunk his chances at making the team (despite putting up solid numbers heading into the break. Soto rebounded to finish third in NL MVP voting. This is Soto’s second time being voted an All-Star starter and his fifth nod overall. He also became the youngest player to be voted to the All-Star team for four different teams.
Unsurprisingly, Soto is the lone Met to make the team (at least for now). Luke Weaver probably had the strongest case among other Mets players, but middle relievers generally are low on the list for All-Star consideration. There is always the chance another a player could be added to the roster down the road as players withdraw from the game.
As a final bit of Soto news, he did express interest in participating in the Home Run Derby, saying, “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve definitely been thinking about it. We’re still thinking. Philadelphia, it seems like it’s going to be fun. But I will see. I will see.”
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