What Does Mets Lineup Look Like With Soto?

Deciding whether to bat Juan Soto second or third is a First World problem.

Batting second makes a lot of sense. The new rule of thumb is to place your best player in the two-hole. Second, a one-two Francisco Lindor-Soto punch is as good as it gets, and he flourished there with the Yankees in 2024. Soto in the two-hole also allows the Mets (as the roster stands Monday) to go switch-left-right-left-right from leadoff through the five-hole, a balance that makes it tougher for opposing managers to decide on which relief pitchers to bring in late in games.

Here’s how that would look:

1. Francisco Lindor, SS
2. Juan Soto, OF
3. Mark Vientos, 1B
4. Brandon Nimmo , OF
5. Starling Marte,  DH
6. Francisco Alvarez , C
7. Jeff McNeil, 2B
8. Jose Siri/Tyrone Taylor, OF
9. Brett Baty, 3B

Soto, believe it or not, struggled in the two-hole with the Padres in 2023, slashing .227/.367/.362/.729 in 141 at-bats. In 2021 with the Nationals, he also posted an un-Soto-like .761 OPS in 101 at-bats batting second.

That year with the Padres, he was dominant when hitting third (29 homers, .982 OPS), but not as ridiculous as he was hitting third for the 2021 Nats (28 homers, .330/.484/.589/1.072).

So maybe Carlos Mendoza prefers to bat Soto there? There was a lot of talk about Soto enjoying the protection of Aaron Judge behind him with the Yankees. What if, with the Mets, Soto plays protector and helps Vientos soar to greater heights?

Here’s a look:

1. Lindor
2. Vientos
3. Soto
4. Nimmo
5. Marte
6. Alvarez
7. McNeil
8. Siri/Taylor
9. Baty

It’s hard to go wrong with a 26-year-old who has led the league in bWAR (2021, 7.1 bWAR), walks (2021-2023, 145, 135, 132), OBP (2020-2021, .490, .465) and runs scored (2024, 128) in one year or another. He even hit cleanup in 2019: 31 homers, .952 OPS.

Of course, the Mets are nowhere near finished this offseason. While they acquired Siri, Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes, plenty of work remains. The next big question about the lineup lands on Pete Alonso‘s status — will he resign? If he does, the batting order gets even deeper — if not, the Mets will surely sign a replacement.

Either way, this is not the final lineup, but just a glance of what can be. The lineup just got a whole lot stronger for years to come with Soto.

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