NEW YORK — New York Mets slugger Juan Soto expects to play again this season, even after being placed on the injured list with a left calf strain.
“Yeah, 100%,” Soto said when asked about returning this year.
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The five-time All-Star landed on the 10-day injured list for the second time this season after imaging revealed a Grade 2 strain. The injury is expected to sideline him longer than the 15 games he missed with a strained right calf in April, but there is no definitive timeline yet for his return to the last-place Mets.
“We’re just taking it week by week, day by day,” Soto said before the opener of a three-game series with Atlanta. “We’re trying to see how I feel. Definitely I’m young enough to recover quick. So we don’t know how I’m going to feel tomorrow, the next day.”
Mets interim manager Andy Green said the plan is to get the 27-year-old Soto completely healthy before discussing a timeline for his return.
“We think the timelines line up that there’s enough of a season left that it’s worthwhile to get one of your best players back on the field and go win baseball games,” Green said.
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Soto had been nursing the nagging calf problem for about a week before he left against the Dodgers in discomfort. He walked twice against Los Angeles starter Roki Sasaki during a 4-2 loss at Citi Field before being replaced by pinch-hitter Jorge Polanco in the sixth inning with the score tied at 1.
Soto is hitting .283 with 21 homers, 52 RBIs and a .947 OPS in 84 games during his second season with the Mets. He sat out a 4-3 loss at Milwaukee, but was back in the lineup as the designated hitter after the Mets had a day off.
“We were expecting something because I was definitely going through a lot,” Soto said. “I was in a lot of pain, but I just kept pushing.”
The lone All-Star for the Mets this season, Soto left the team’s first game after the break in the eighth inning on July 16 at Philadelphia. New York was off the following day, and he returned to the lineup as the DH against the Phillies. He played left field in Milwaukee and was the DH.
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“I’m trying to go out there and help my team to win ballgames, so whatever it takes,” Soto said. “Sometimes it’s tough. We were hoping that it goes the other way and I get better and healthier and I could keep going.”
The Mets (45-62) are 5-13 with Soto on the injured list this year after they tied a season high with 19 hits in a 14-3 win over Atlanta. Because of a left calf strain that sidelined star shortstop Francisco Lindor for two months, New York has had Soto and Lindor in the lineup together for only 28 games this season.
By the time Soto returns, the Mets’ roster could look much different after an expected selloff before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
“We never expected to be in this kind of spot by now,” Soto said. “I always trusted that we had the talent to turn it around and to compete this year.”
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