The fact that New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto wasn’t selected for the National League All-Star Game roster remained one of the top storylines hovering over the Midsummer Classic as of Tuesday afternoon.
Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, understandably has strong feelings about the slugger not participating in the exhibition matchup held at the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park.
“The All-Star Game is about the greatest players,” Boras said on Monday, as shared by Jon Heyman of the New York Post (h/t NJ Advance Media for NJ.com). “Juan Soto has again proven to be one of the greatest players in this league. The fact that he’s not there makes it something other than what it should be. It changes the integrity of the All-Star Game when the greatest players aren’t here.”
Of course, Soto’s absence isn’t the only roster-related controversy regarding this year’s All-Star Game. As Matt Gelb noted for The Athletic, multiple Philadelphia Phillies players previously complained about the fact that Milwaukee Brewers rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski earned an All-Star invite even though he made just five MLB starts before the midseason break.
Media insider Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated later mocked Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos for his take about MLB adding Misiorowski to the All-Star Game.
As it pertains to Soto, he signed a 15-year, $765M contract to join the Mets last offseason that reportedly would’ve paid him a $100,000 bonus if he made the All-Star Game roster. While he often left much to be desired with his play over his first two months with the Amazins, he earned NL Player of the Month honors for June.
According to Baseball Reference, Soto slashed .317/.457/.676 with a 1.133 OPS, 15 home runs and 31 RBI over 41 games played from May 30 through July 13. ESPN stats show he entered the break with the league’s 12th-highest OPS (.905) for the season. According to Baseball Savant, Soto’s .455 expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA) for the campaign is good for second in MLB behind only New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge (.467 xwOBA as of Tuesday).
Soto will look to offer a response to his All-Star snub when the 55-42 Mets open a three-game home series versus the Cincinnati Reds (50-47) this coming Friday night.
