Feb 19, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets proper fielder Juan Soto (22) performs catch throughout a spring coaching exercise at Clover Park. Obligatory Credit score: Sam Navarro-Imagn Pictures After signing a 15-year, $765 million contract this offseason with the New York Mets, star outfielder Juan Soto had one other quantity in thoughts.
He needed to maintain sporting No. 22, however Mets third baseman Brett Baty already had these digits.
Soto thanked Baty for switching to No. 7 with a shock on Thursday, gifting him a 2025 Chevy Tahoe on the workforce’s spring coaching facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The SUV’s rear window was painted with “Thanks for No. 22,” and even had an enormous purple ribbon on the hood like in tv commercials.
“It is all yours,” Soto, 26, advised Baty in a video of the presentation posted on the Mets’ social media accounts. “You’ll be able to drive it and every part.”
Baty, 25, hugged and thanked Soto.
“I actually respect the quantity,” Soto advised Baty within the video. “It is the primary one I ever wore.”
The trade follows a historical past in skilled sports activities of star gamers rewarding a brand new teammate for giving up his jersey quantity. For instance, when famous person Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023, he delivered a brand new Porsche to pitcher Joe Kelly and his spouse, Ashley, for giving up No. 17.
Soto batted .288 final 12 months with 41 residence runs, 109 RBIs and an American League-leading 128 runs scored in 157 regular-season video games in his lone season with the New York Yankees. He additionally batted .327 with 4 homers and 9 RBIs in 14 playoff video games in serving to the Yankees attain the World Sequence towards the eventual champion Dodgers.
For his profession, Soto is a .285 hitter with 201 homers, 592 RBIs, a .532 slugging share and a .421 on-base share which leads all lively main leaguers. He has performed 936 regular-season video games for the Washington Nationals (2018-22) — successful the World Sequence in 2019 — San Diego Padres (2022-23) and Yankees.
The Mets chosen Baty twelfth general within the 2019 MLB Draft. He batted .229 final season with 4 residence runs and 16 RBIs in 50 video games. He’s a profession .215 hitter with 15 homers and 55 RBIs in 169 video games over elements of three seasons (2022-24). He is because of earn a reported $800,000 in 2025.
–Area Degree Media
