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PORT ST. LUCIE — The best left-handed hitter in franchise history — until now — was at Mets camp Monday, and Darryl Strawberry is getting a firsthand look at who the team hopes will surpass him in that category.
Juan Soto chose the Mets over the Yankees in free agency and Strawberry — who played and won World Series titles in both places — is confident Soto made the right choice.
And he has one main reason for why that’s the case: It’s now his team.
“It was good for him to make the decision to play here because now he’s not going to be behind anybody,’’ Strawberry said. “Juan Soto with the Mets, yeah, you have [Francisco] Lindor, who’s great, but if you play over there [with the Yankees] with a guy like [Aaron] Judge, you’re never gonna be bigger than him.”
That won’t be an issue in Queens after Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal to become the face of the Mets.
“Him coming here means everything,’’ said Strawberry, who arrived in camp as a guest instructor Sunday. “It takes you to the next level when you have that type of player. Last year was a great run for them and they found themselves missing that one guy in the lineup, that stud. Not every team has one. There’s [Shohei] Ohtani with the Dodgers, Judge with the Yankees and Soto. That’s what they do. You need those kinds of players and now the Mets have that guy.”
Knowing he’ll be with the Mets, presumably for the rest of his career, will also serve Soto well, according to Strawbery.
“He can go to another level in his career,” Strawberry said of Soto, who hit second in the lineup against the Cardinals at Clover Park on Monday. “Fifteen years to focus on one place and not wonder where he’s going will be good for him. And being in New York is good for him. I think he realized that by playing with the Yankees last year, how good it can be. It’s all about trying to win and not just putting a team on the field. The Yankees have always done that and now these guys are, too.”
Soto’s arrival gives the Mets what Strawberry called a “Big Three” that reminds him of the lineup he was part of in the mid-1980s.
“We had me, Keith [Hernandez] and Gary [Carter],’’ Strawberry said. “They have Soto, Pete [Alonso] and Lindor. Not to count out the other guys like [Brandon] Nimmo and [Francisco] Alvarez, but they have those really established players you can count on.”
But as Strawberry also knows, nothing is guaranteed.
“Everything looks great and Soto puts them over the top,’’ Strawberry said. “You have to make it happen on the field.”
