Juan Soto's bullpen visits: Sunflower seeds and scouting reports
NEW YORK — Juan Soto, honorary member of the New York Mets bullpen?
'Hey, at this point,' Mets reliever Ryne Stanek said, smiling, 'he comes by so often that we might as well give him that title.'
Soto, the superstar right fielder, visits the Mets' bullpen before games, between pitching changes — really, anytime there's a break in the action that allows him an opportunity to pop in.
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It's not completely unusual for a right fielder to linger by the wall near where the relievers reside or stop in the bullpen for a quick hello or sip of a drink. But Soto is different. He visits all the time.
'He does it way more than others,' said Stanek, who is in his ninth major-league season. 'We love it.'
Added Mets reliever Max Kranick, 'We look forward to his visits.'
Earlier this season, Soto referred to the relievers as 'his guys.' Why wouldn't he visit with them, he wonders. Sometimes, it's just laughs and light conversation.
A lot of the time, though, Soto heads to his bullpen buddies seeking information.
The visits took off at the start of the season when the Mets began playing games at Citi Field.
'The conversation that we got with him, it's been amazing,' bullpen coach Jose Rosado said.
When Soto drops by the bullpen, he might be looking for advice on a few topics. Sometimes, he wants to know what Rosado thinks an opposing reliever might throw to left-handed batters. Other times, he wants to know a Mets reliever's approach against a certain batter so he can position himself defensively. And every once in a while, Soto will ask Rosado for tips on throwing mechanics, wanting more carry on his throws from right field.
'He wants to have that step ahead,' Rosado said, 'on everything.'
The relievers and Rosado expect Soto's visits.
juan soto born to be a relief pitcher who hangs out in the bullpen most of the game, forced to be a generational hitter pic.twitter.com/NBizywWPHH
— dianna (@runwildkian) May 6, 2025
'I try to get the information before he even asks now,' Rosado said. 'It's been great.'
Rosado is prepared for Soto before the first pitch.
In the first inning of games, Rosado stands by the fence separating the bullpen area from right field, awaiting Soto with a fistful of sunflower seeds.
When Soto walks over, Rosado gives him a handful.
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From there, Soto jogs out to his position and places the seeds where the defensive card tells him to stand as a marker.
'I'm ready as soon as the game starts,' Rosado said. 'I know to already have the sunflower seeds. He asked me the first game for sunflower seeds. I was like, 'You know you have plenty in the dugout — what's going on?' But then I saw him go back to his position, lay them down. I noticed it right away. It's pretty cool. Little things that I know he likes to do.'
After getting seeds, Soto wants scouting reports.
During a pitching change in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Soto asked Mets lefty reliever A.J. Minter how lefties should pitch against him. The next day, Minter looked at some video and numbers on how Phillies lefty reliever Matt Strahm might pitch to Soto. Minter then offered his input.
'This is what I think he is going to do,' Minter told Soto.
Soto responded, 'I think the same thing.'
Minter laughed when he said what happened next.
'In the at-bat against Soto, Strahm did the exact opposite of what I said,' Minter said. 'I felt so bad.'
Soto never held it against him. It didn't stop him from continuing to ask questions.
'He's such a competitor,' Minter said. 'You can see he is trying so hard. It's great to be teammates with him. I've told him, 'If I'm going to pitch against you, you know the strike zone so well — I know I'm attacking you.' So I tell him, 'Be ready for that first pitch, be ready off the jump.' But we just all love talking with him.'
The talks don't always involve swapping information and seeking an edge. Stanek suggested that Soto may just want to lay low sometimes and the bullpen is a good for that. Sometimes, the relievers said, a fun conversation just evolves during a Soto visit. They call him 'chill,' 'calm' and 'confident.'
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'It's been cool to see his personality come out more now,' Kranick said.
Added Stanek: 'You see it from people on social media or whatever saying whether he likes it here or not. I think he loves it here. He's been a great teammate.'
It's common for Soto, in the first year of a $765 million deal, to quietly approach the Mets' relievers with questions.
Are you ready today?
How are you going to match up against this hitter?
Relievers can sometimes feel isolated from the rest of the team. They're not in the dugout. They're by themselves, in the bullpen. They say Soto helps bring another element of connectedness. And they appreciate that effort.
For Soto, his visits to the bullpen are helpful.
That's also true for the relievers.
'In the beginning, I was like, 'Man, I gotta get him out of here so he can focus on the game,'' Rosado said. 'But it's the questions that he asks. It's perfect. He wants to know everything. So we're thinking. We have to bring the A-game every time.'
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