SNY showing a shot of someone rubbing an apple prop moment before Juan Soto's home run to the Home Run Apple in center field. Photo Credit: SNY
By Reice Shipley on

On Friday, New York Mets star Juan Soto broke his career-high for home runs in a season in the team’s 12-6 win over the Washington Nationals. But it was how he did it, and in particular how SNY, the Mets broadcast network, covered his milestone home run that was arguably more notable.

Those familiar with Mets broadcasts on SNY know that the organization gives fans a bit of a different experience watching games, which particularly comes from SNY director John DeMarsico, who frequently tries out unique camera angles and references to movies throughout each broadcast that give viewers a far more cinematic viewing experience than your standard baseball game.

Perhaps the best instance of DeMarsico’s cinematic vision came to light came in the bottom of the fourth inning of Friday’s game, during Soto’s third at-bat of the night. In between pitches after the count went to 2-1 in the at-bat, the Mets broadcast zoomed in on a toy Mets apple that someone in the stands was rubbing, seemingly alluding to some kind of magic genie in a bottle, perhaps trying to summon Soto’s 42nd home run of the season.

Moments later, a camera shot of the Mets Home Run Apple in center field was shown on the broadcast before quickly returning back to the field to show the next pitch of Soto’s at-bat.

And like clockwork, Soto took Nationals reliever P.J. Poulin deep for his 42nd home run, which inexplicably happened to land just short of the Home Run Apple.

Obviously, it was merely a stroke of excellent luck for not only the home run to be hit on the very next pitch, but for the hit to go out to the Home Run Apple in center field.

But it just goes to show that when cinematic transitions work, they truly play out exceptionally.

What makes it even more exceptional is seeing how the entire moment was put together behind the scenes, which luckily was released publicly by the SNY Mets X account.

Naturally, Mets fans took notice of SNY’s perfectly timed shots right before Soto’s home run, singing the praises of the network for how things played out.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley