Juan Soto Faces Backlash For His Definition Of 'Hustling Pretty Hard'

New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto failed to hustle out a ball off the Green Monster in their Monday night loss to the Boston Red Sox, holding himself to a 347-foot single. This is the second time Soto's effort and hustle have been questioned in as many days.

Soto spoke with the media and was asked about his lack of hustle out of the box against the New York Yankees and the aforementioned single of the Green Monster. Soto responded in poor taste, saying, "I think I've been hustling pretty hard. If you see it (Monday), you could tell."

Soto watched his fly ball off the Green Monster and, because of that, was held to a single. It is noted that he stole second base in the following at-bat, making up for his lack of hustle initially.

In the eighth inning on Sunday night against the Yankees, Soto hit a tough ground ball to Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu, but did not run out the ground ball. While the Yankees would go on to win the game, the Mets were tied with the Yankees at two with Soto leading off the inning. Instead of Soto potentially hustling out a single and setting the Mets up to take the lead, he was easily thrown out by LeMahieu.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said that he would talk to his superstar slugger about the topic and hopefully uncover some underlying issues that may be causing Soto to lack hustle on the diamond. With the recent speculation that Soto is unhappy in the Mets clubhouse after signing a 15-year contract, Soto and the Mets will have to smooth over any wrinkles that are effecting his day to day impact.

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