Juan Soto no longer plays for the New York Yankees. Instead, he shines for the crosstown New York Mets.
On Wednesday night, though, he joined a current Yankees slugger in the MLB history books.
Soto’s feat was prompted by a home run, which he cranked out of the yard in Tampa Bay as the Mets handled the Rays:
Juan Soto sends this baseball out in a hurry 💨 pic.twitter.com/XM6I3HLJVQ
— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2026
That was the 267th home run of Soto’s MLB career.
According to MLB stats expert Sarah Langs, he’s now hit the ninth-most homers before turning 28 in MLB history.
Specifically, Soto is actually tied for ninth — with Giancarlo Stanton, whose career began with the Marlins of course but who now is an (injured) member of the Yankees.
Langs also notes that the next player on the list, someone Soto could potentially catch, is Mel Ott. He hit 275 home runs before turning 28 as a phenom back in the day for the New York Giants.
Juan Soto’s History
Soto will play the rest of the 2026 regular season at 27 years old.
His birthday is on Oct. 25, and that’s when he’ll turn 28, so in the meantime, he can try to climb the aforementioned chart a little more.
Soto was helped in this cause by debuting in the major leagues with the Washington Nationals in 2018 at the age of 19. He slugged 22 home runs before turning 20, and he has mostly kept that roll going.
The smooth-swinging lefty was hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited the season to 60 games (and Soto to 47 games) in 2020, or he’d be even higher up this list.
Soto has also dealt with injuries this season that have hurt his cause. Wednesday’s game was the 89th Soto has played this season. He now has 23 home runs, pretty much the best rate he has had in his career outside of that 2020 season.
Because Soto made his MLB debut so young, he has had the chance to make a variety of types of baseball history, and he’ll continue to have those chances if he stays healthy and keeps producing the way he always has.
The Irony of Mets History
Of course, it’s all a bit ironic.
The Mets shelled out a historic contract to swipe Soto from the Yankees before the 2025 season, and while he’s performed well in Queens, the Mets collapsed down the stretch last year and never got out of the gates this year.
Soto will miss the playoffs in his first two seasons with the Mets. He surely would prefer to be in the postseason and maybe hit a few less home runs in the meantime.
That’s not the way it has gone, though. Soto has done what he can while he’s on the field. The rest of the Mets haven’t kept up. He can keep making history, but it’ll be of the individual variety until the Mets figure out how to grow going forward.
Mets’ Juan Soto Ties Yankees Slugger in MLB History