Inside The Mets

Mets' Juan Soto responds to heckler in legendary fashion

New York Mets star Juan Soto has already produced an iconic moment with his new team.
Grant Young|
Mar 10, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (22) rounds third base following a home run during the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
Mar 10, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (22) rounds third base following a home run during the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

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Any baseball fan who can't acknowledge that New York Mets slugger Juan Soto is one of the sport's best and most exciting players shouldn't be allowed to call themselves a baseball fan.

However, as great as Soto is, it would be hard for anybody to live up to a $765 million contract. And some within the baseball community surely believe that the only way Soto could live up to that is if he ends his Mets tenure with multiple MVP trophies and multiple World Series championships under his belt.

Read more: Mets' Juan Soto asserts former teammate is MLB's best player

Time will tell whether Soto can accomplish these big feats. But in the interim, he's content to put any doubters in their places one home run at a time.

This became clear during the third inning of the Mets' spring training game on March 10 against the St. Louis Cardinals. According to an article from Justin Tasch of the New York Post, a heckler in a green shirt was screaming "Overpaid! Overrated!" at Soto while he was playing right field.

At one point, Soto turned, stared at the heckler, spat, and turned back to the game.

In the bottom of that inning, Soto smashed a home run to right field.

But that's not all. This home run was hit directly at that heckler, who tried to catch the ball, missed badly, then stumbled to the ground in pursuit of it. And the best part is that a video of this entire exchange has gone viral on social media.

Soto surely taught this heckler a lesson he won't soon forget.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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