In your face, Mr. Heckler!
New York Mets superstar Juan Soto’s charmed life just got a bit sweeter during a spring training game earlier this week against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Soto was standing in right field minding his own business, then one exuberant fan begins his taunt, screaming “Overpaid, Overrated” over and over. After hearing enough, Soto turns toward the fan and gives him a death stare for a few moments before turning back around to home plate.
Soto’s revenge then came in the bottom of the third inning when he took his at-bat against Cardinals pitcher Sonny Gray. Soto cranked a Gray pitch for a home run ball to right-centre field.
The viral video shows the ball flying over the fence towards a few fans, including the heckler, who is wearing a green shirt. The ball carries just out of reach of the fan’s head and he can been seen losing his balance and awkwardly falling to the ground. Let’s just say, the fan comes off looking very “overpaid and overrated” when it comes to catching a fly ball while remaining on his feet.
Soto can then can be seen giving a big fist pump in the air as he rounds first base.
Some fans are known to ride players who make the kind of money that Soto now earns. In the off-season, the Mets gave Soto the biggest contract in sports history, worth $765 million US over 15 years.
The Toronto Blue Jays also made their pitch to Soto in the off-season, but fell short once again in their attempt to land a superstar. This was coming off the previous off-season where the Blue Jays famously fell flat at trying to sign Shohei Ohtani.
Soto is seen as a generational player after putting up massive numbers in his first seven seasons. Playing for the New York Yankees in 2024, Soto had a .285 batting average, hit 41 home runs and drove in 109 RBI.
Nobody is going to feel sorry for Soto, but on Monday, the star had what likely will be one of many great moments for the Mets this season.