Mets star Juan Soto's arrival at spring training a true spectacle

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — When Mets camp transformed into The Juan Soto Show on Sunday morning, everybody wanted a peek. And the man of the hour — the man of the next decade and a half — gave it to them.

Coaches and players, of course. Hundreds of fans, the biggest crowd thus far. Dozens of media members. A handful of Mets executives who hadn’t been out in the sun much. St. Lucie Mets staffers. A Boras Corp. representative. Extra security guards. Even manager Carlos Mendoza’s parents, whose attendance was coincidental but who nonetheless were curious to catch a glimpse of the superstar.

On Soto’s first day at spring training, the new face of the franchise swaggered around the Clover Park complex. He took a bunch of swings and offered plenty of smiles. It wasn’t much, but it was the most tangible evidence yet that another era has begun for the Mets, who signed Soto to the largest contract (15 years, $765 million) in professional sports history in December and now were able to see him on the field in orange and blue for the first time.

Soto’s arrival was as close as the Mets have come to an in-camp, hoopla-inspiring phenomenon since Tim Tebow.

“As soon as he stepped on the field, as he was walking toward the cage, you could just feel it,” Mendoza said. “And when he stepped in the batting cages with all the boys who were there, heads turned around. OK, here he is.”

Here he is.

“He’s very special. It’s going to be fun to watch it up close and to see the whole process,” said hitting coach Jeremy Barnes, who had several conversations with Soto on Sunday. “It’s so easy to watch these guys on TV or see them from across the dugout and just see the game . . . Now we get to see what goes into Juan Soto and what that whole process is.

“And that’s the cool part: all the behind-the-scenes stuff and what he does on a daily basis to get him ready to go compete at 7:10 at night, be one of the best hitters in the world.”

Soto emerged from the clubhouse at 10:04 a.m. and, naturally, headed straight for the batting cage. Forty minutes later, he joined the rest of the early-arriving position players — whose first official workout isn’t until Monday — on a practice field out back to stretch and warm up.

When most of the group moved on to defensive drills, Soto headed to the main stadium, where he — wait for it — took more batting practice. Tucker Frawley, a recent player-development hire, was throwing from behind the L-screen. Tracking Soto’s every move were at least 11 videographers, including a couple of Mets employees and Soto’s personal social-media man.

At one point, Soto fouled three consecutive pitches straight up into the hood. After another swing, he grunted to express dismay at an apparent mishit, then watched as the ball sailed over the right-centerfield wall anyway.

Soto, the new guy on this side of town, admitted afterward to some first-day nervousness. Over the course of the day, though, he made sure to say hello to the few faces who were familiar: assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel, who held that role with the Yankees last year; outfielder and former Padres teammate Jose Azocar, “my guy,” Soto said, and Jakson Reetz, a journeyman catcher in camp on a minor-league contract who last decade was Soto’s contemporary in the Nationals’ farm system.

“He’s the same person he’s been since that day [they met],” Reetz said. “Very humble. Goes about his work. You understand why he’s as good as he is . . . He’s an unbelievable human being. You guys are going to love him. He was super-humble all the time and came in right away. ‘Reetzie, what’s up? How are you doing, man?’ We haven’t played together since ’21, so that was really cool.”

Mostly, though, Soto had to meet the people he encountered.

“It’s going to take time. I went through it last year,” Mendoza said. “It feels like you’re meeting 50 people every day. And then the next day you come in and introduce yourself [and a person says], ‘No, I met you yesterday.’ Oh, sorry. He’s going to go through that.”

Soto was outdoors for all of an hour and a half altogether. Based on the per-minute rate of his contract, he earned about $8,730.

“I’m really happy to know where I’m going to be for the next 15 years,” Soto said. “Let’s see how everything goes.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.