How do you beat a bully? By hitting right back.
Or in the case of Juan Soto, hitting a home run straight at them.
One of the most delightful interactions of spring training unfolded on Monday during the New York Mets game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
While Soto was patrolling the outfield, a fan loudly and proudly jeered “Overpaid! Overrated!” in Soto’s direction. Unless there was another athlete worth $765 million within shouting distance, it feels safe to assume Soto was the target of the fan’s heckles.
Soto responded with unreal poise, smashing a home run basically directly at the fan in question during his very next at-bat. ESPN put together a clip of the two moments in one highly enjoyable video.
Second, for all that talk of Soto being overpaid and overrated, it sure looked like that fan wanted to secure that home run ball.
This surely won’t be the last trash talk Soto deals with from rowdy fans, but his direct response with a dinger might serve as a warning to opposing crowds to save their heckles if a game is ever close.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Juan Soto Silenced Heckling Fan by Hitting Monster Home Run Directly Right at Him.
