Mets outfielder Juan Soto will return to the lineup tomorrow, according to reports. Soto has been sidelined since April 3 with a low grade calf strain he suffered in the first inning of the game that day in San Francisco while running the bases.
The Mets won that game, the first of a four-game winning streak they put together in the first few days of Soto’s absence. But, as we are all painfully aware, the Mets have not won a game since April 7, matching their longest losing streak since 2004.
In 34
plate appearances before the injury, Soto hit .355/.412/.516 with a 160 wRC+, amassing 0.3 fWAR in just eight games. He has scored three runs, driven in five runs, and gone deep once so far. During this 11-game losing streak, the Mets have been shut out three times and scored more than four runs only once. The Mets currently have an 80 wRC+ as a team, which is 27th in baseball. And their 72 runs scored are dead last in the league.
The Mets begin a nine-game homestand tonight, kicking off a three-game series against the Twins at Citi Field. If Soto does indeed get activated tomorrow as planned, he will have missed 15 games and the Mets will have lost at least 11 of them.
