Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Eric Chavez has long been a fan of great hitters.<\/p>\n
From his own playing days, he tried to emulate Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds.<\/p>\n
More recently, his eyes have been drawn to another lefty-swinger: Juan Soto.<\/p>\n
And after telling The Post\u2019s Joel Sherman earlier this spring that watching Soto\u2019s pre-workout routine gave him \u201cgoose bumps,\u201d the Mets hitting coach has found himself even more impressed after getting to watch him play in games \u2014 albeit still in spring training \u2014 on a regular basis for the past three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see it from afar is fantastic,\u201d Chavez said of Soto\u2019s ability at the plate. \u201cThe closer he gets to you, the more you go \u2018Whoa, that\u2019s different.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Even during Grapefruit League games, Soto applies the same disciplined, patient approach he does in the regular season.<\/p>\n
It wowed the Yankees a year ago and is doing the same thing in Mets camp. <\/p>\n
Chavez has been so impressed by what he\u2019s seen from Soto, he could only think of one other hitter to compare him to, and it\u2019s not Griffey Jr.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Bonds was as close to a perfect hitter as I\u2019ve ever seen and Soto is right there on his heels,\u2019\u2019 Chavez said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty special. You kind of anticipate what he\u2019s gonna be like when he gets here, but it\u2019s not the same. It\u2019s about as good as I\u2019ve ever seen. I\u2019m glad he\u2019s on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Carlos Mendoza said, \u201cIt\u2019s a show.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he comes to the plate, you can tell the difference in the stadium and in our dugout,\u2019\u2019 Mendoza said. \u201cPeople stop what they\u2019re doing and just watch because they don\u2019t want to miss anything. Not even a pitch.\u201d <\/p>\n
Watching Soto every day, his singularity doesn\u2019t come only from his power or ability to get on base.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the way he takes pitches, looking them into the glove and rarely being fooled.<\/p>\n
The approach starts well before he gets into the box.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis level of thinking of what the pitcher is gonna do is one of a kind,\u2019\u2019 Chavez said. \u201cHe\u2019s always one step ahead of the pitcher. He talked about facing [Kodai] Senga one time and he knew what to do with the next pitch. Sometimes, if guys have 50 at-bats against a guy, they might have a good idea of what the pitcher is doing. Soto can do it after one or two at-bats. It\u2019s next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Chavez knows when it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, a guy throws a pitch and Soto lets it go and you see him laughing,\u2019\u2019 Chavez said. \u201cRight there, he\u2019s calculating his next at-bat. And you\u2019re almost sure he\u2019s gonna get him, if he doesn\u2019t do it on the next pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Chavez and Mendoza believe at least some of Soto\u2019s traits can rub off on his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can influence everyone else in the lineup,\u2019\u2019 Chavez said. \u201cHe\u2019s not loud, saying \u2018Do this\u2019 or \u2018Do that.\u2019 You can just watch him, watch his practice and take things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys gravitate towards him,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cJust by being around him, talking hitting, guys are going to pick things up and get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, as Chavez said, \u201cThere\u2019s only one Juan Soto in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can just do what you can do,\u2019\u2019 Chavez said. \u201cI wanted to hit like Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds and I\u2019d try to do it and I\u2019d say, \u2018Oh, right, I\u2019m not Ken Griffey Jr. or Barry Bonds.\u2019 But there are things you can do. You might not be able to do what he can, but Soto can definitely help good hitters like Francisco Alvarez and Jesse Winker be the best version of themselves. You just have to pay attention.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Eric Chavez has long been a fan of great hitters. From his own playing days, he tried to emulate Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds. More recently, his eyes have been drawn to another lefty-swinger: Juan Soto. And after telling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":246492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246493,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246491\/revisions\/246493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}