The 2025 New York Mets were never bold enough to bat Juan Soto leadoff. He had 96 starts batting second and another 64 in the number three spot. He did much better batting second, but it had less to do with the where and more with the when.
From mid-May through early August, Soto was the number two hitter. He did well at times, but the end result wasn’t positive. An inferior .250/.386/.509 slash line versus the .272/.401/.535 while batting second had the Mets switching him back to the number two spot.
The projected Mets starting lineup for 2026 according to FanGraphs has Soto batting third once again with Marcus Semien as the team’s number two hitter.