Hunter Brown

Juan Soto turned on a 96 mph cutter from Hunter Brown, hitting it 390 feet to right field in Houston for his first home run as a member of the Mets.

Brown was on fire to start this game as he struck out Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto right off the bat and touched 100 MPH in the process. The Mets jumped on him in the second after a strange play where he picked off Brandon Nimmo, but Brendan Rodgers dropped the ball at second base. Then, Soto got him back with a loud home run. Still, it was a solid start for Brown who forced 13 swings-and-misses and was fearless in challenging the Mets' hitters at the top of the zone. Truthfully, anything is better than the way Brown started last season and it doesn't seem like he is going to slide back to that level of ineffectiveness any time soon. He's scheduled to face the Twins in his next start.

It didn't take much time for Soto to make right on his game ending strikeout from opening day. He turned on a 96 MPH cutter from Hunter Brown that was up-and-in on his hands and blasted it nearly 400 ft deep into the right field stands. Regular hitters can't do things like that. Soto is not a regular hitter, though. It's only been two games, but he looks comfortable and downright thrilled to be a Met.

Juan Soto turned on a 96 mph cutter from Hunter Brown, hitting it 390 feet to right field in Houston for his first home run as a member of the Mets.

We saw Luisangel Acuna draw the start on Opening Day against an opposing left-hander and now Baty is in there with Hunter Brown toeing the slab for the Astros on Friday night. It seems like this will be a straight platoon situation with Baty getting the strong side of the at-bats there, making him an interesting middle infield option in deeper mixed leagues for the time being.