PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Juan Soto wasted little time in showing off his power for his new team. Again.
Soto homered in his first spring training at-bat for the New York Mets, hitting a solo shot to left-center field in the first inning against Houston on Saturday. The Mets won 6-2.
“I feel like everybody was really happy. I would say the worst reaction was [teammate] Jesse Winker, that I stepped on him,” Soto said. “He was really [in] pain, but he was happy at the same time.”
Soto also homered last year in his first spring training game with the New York Yankees, belting a three-run shot in the fourth inning of that matchup with Toronto.
Soto signed a record 15-year, $765 million contract this offseason, moving across New York from the Yankees to the Mets. He hit second in the order Saturday, between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, and drilled a 426-foot homer on a 2-1 pitch from left-hander Colton Gordon. In the next inning, Soto drove in another run with a ground ball. Those were his only plate appearances.
He raised his career spring training average to .304 with 14 home runs and an OPS of 1.017 in 87 games.
The Mets might have been even more encouraged by the performance of starter Clay Holmes, another player who moved from one New York team to the other. Holmes has started just four of his 311 big league appearances, but he is converting to a starter for the Mets and threw 34 pitches Saturday in three perfect innings.
Holmes struck out three.