Soto: 'I was pitched differently' in Yankees' lineup with Judge

Juan Soto is still adjusting to life as a New York Met.

MLB's highest-paid player believes pitchers are attacking him differently now that he doesn't have former teammate Aaron Judge protecting him in the New York Yankees' lineup.

"It's definitely different," Soto said of pitchers' approach, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. "I had the best hitter in baseball hitting behind me. I was getting more attacked and more pitches in the strike zone, less intentional walks and things like that. I was pitched differently last year."

Soto hit his second home run of the season in the Mets' 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

The 26-year-old owns a .250/.400/.429 slash line with six RBIs through his first 16 games as a Met. He had three home runs and 15 RBIs in his first 16 games with the Yankees in 2024.

Opposing pitchers seemingly prefer to take their chances with Pete Alonso, who has thrived hitting behind Soto. Alonso entered Tuesday with the highest OPS (1.136) in the National League.

"Everybody has got a role and I feel as a team, we have got to attack pitchers as a team," Soto said. "We don't have to attack the pitchers as individuals. If they don't want to pitch to me, I just pass the baton and let (Alonso) do his thing. If they don't want to pitch to him, he should do the same thing."

The Mets have gotten off to an 11-5 start even though their offense isn't firing on all cylinders: They've only scored 66 runs as a team while posting the NL's fifth-lowest WRC+ (94).

Soto hit a career-high 41 home runs with 109 RBIs in 2024.