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Put Dwight “Doc” Gooden in the camp of those not worried about Juan Soto’s long-term Mets future.
Soto, 26, is off to a lackluster start to his Mets tenure after signing a record 15-year, $765 million contract in the offseason – including a 0-for-5 performance in the team’s 7-5 loss to the Dodgers in 13 innings at Citi Field on Friday night.
Gooden, whose number is retired by the Mets after helping them win the 1986 World Series, isn’t too concerned with Soto hitting just .236 with eight homers, 21 RBIs and a .787 OPS, though 182 at-bats. He believes Soto set such a high standard for himself during his career that fans’ expectations were raised to an all-world level with him.
“He set the bar so high his first six years, when expectation is going to be there, and then you throw in the contract he just signed, everybody’s expecting everything,” Gooden told TMZ. “Unfortunately, every little thing that happens now, they point at him with a lot of stuff.”
Gooden added that he’d love to have a chat with Soto and believes he just needs “somebody in his ear to let him know it’s gonna be OK.”
Soto has been scrutinized for more than just poor performance at the plate, with his hustle also coming into question last week after not busting it out of the box on two occasions.
He didn’t run hard on ground out to second against the Yankees last Sunday and then again on a long single off the Green Monster in Fenway during the series opener against the Red Sox on Monday.
Soto stated after the game in Boston that he was “hustling very hard” while manager Carlos Mendoza said he would have a chat with his superstar.
Soto was also dropped from second to third in the Mets lineup for their finale against the Red Sox on Wednesday and again on Friday night. Soto struck out in his first two at-bats on Wednesday night without swinging at a single pitch.
He told The Post’s Jon Heyman that he’s just still getting used to his new Mets situation.
“It takes time,” Soto said Friday. “It’s not that easy to adjust to a place. Definitely, some places are easier to adjust to than others.”
Soto’s agent Scott Boras told Heyman that “wearing the crown” of a mega-contract also takes some adjusting to for Soto.
Gooden seems to agree.
“He earned that [contract], but now he’s in a situation where he should be able to relax, you would think, but the added pressure does play a part,” Gooden said. “It just takes time sometimes, because we forget he’s 26 years old, and you know, he’s never been through this before.”
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