Francisco Lindor on Juan Soto, Mets Pressure, & The Future Of MLB | Boardroom Cover Story

I'm addicted to baseball. I live it, I breathe it, I eat it. It's baseball, baseball, baseball. Every time you're in New York, there's always pressure. Pressure is a great opportunity to create something special. We don't have the luxury of, like, I'm trying this new thing in two weeks. I haven't got a hit. You've got to perform every day. What's up, everybody, and welcome to another Boardroom Cover Story. For our April Cover Story, we have the honor to have an interview today with a very special guest, somebody that means a lot to me, being that I am a lifelong Met fan. So please welcome to the show the New York Mets leadoff hitter, shortstop, all-star, and I say future MVP, my friend Francisco Lindor. Thank you, brother. Thank you. What's up, man? Welcome to the show. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Excited to be here. Let's talk about New York right now. Obviously, ending last season was exciting. I was at Opening Day, and I could feel the excitement in the stadium. It was almost like a continuation of October. Do you feel this extra kind of sense of pressure, maybe, or that the expectations have risen after you guys' performance last year? I mean, every time you're in New York, there's always pressure. I love it. I think pressure is a great opportunity to create something special. Coming into this year, the pressure is that we've got to win, but that was the same thing in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and now in 2025. We've got to get it done. We have to, and we are all working towards that. I feel like the city deserves it, the organization deserves it, and the players deserve it as well. But nothing's going to be given. We've got to work for it. So no added pressure? Not really. At the end of the day, I've got to go out there and get it done, no matter what. Even if we win this year, there's still pressure. The Dyers won last year. They've still got pressure. Yeah. Every time you get put in a place to create something special, there's always going to be pressure. But you guys clearly made noise in the offseason. When a player like Juan Soto comes into a lineup, is there an adjustment? I know in the NBA, even when there's a successful team, when you join a team and a superstar comes and joins a roster, there are certain things that you have to account for and just a change in dynamic or chemistry. How has that been early? And what, as a leader of the team, do you try to take into account in that process? For a guy like Soto, it's all about making him feel comfortable, making him feel like this is also his team. He's going to be here for a very long time. So you want to get him to feel that he's part of everything we're trying to accomplish. And he's going to help us accomplish the ultimate goal, which is winning. He's been fantastic. He's a guy that has been the same person from day one that he showed up in spring training to yesterday. And I'm sure he'll be the same person today. I appreciate where he has gone about it. I appreciate that he's not trying to do anything extra. And he has, obviously, one year already in New York, so he kind of understands the land. He understands how this is. But you just got to make him feel like this is his home because he truly is his house. He's going to be here for a very long time. And you also, obviously, are only a few years from signing your contract. I'm sure there's information you can give him on just how to block out that noise, knowing that this is a long time. You have a long time here. Have you felt that role as a leader grow over your last few years here? Yeah, for sure. Soto has done a fantastic job. of not letting the contract get in his way as of right now. But the most important thing when you sign a contract like that is you can't make up all the expectations in one year. You know, it's going to be, you do a year after year after year after year. And eventually, people are going to look back and say it was worth it. You know, but you can't go out, even if you win MVP your first season with the new contract. You got to still come back the next year and do it again. You know, so it's a lot about staying the course, you know, taking it day by day, living the moment and not letting the outside noise get inside the house. Well, you know what one thing Net fans will always love about him is that he left the Yankees. I'm sure they love that. He'll have that for the rest of his career. Yeah. And obviously, getting Pete Alonso back, I think as a Mets fan, that was something from an emotional standpoint that everybody felt was really important. Did you feel the same? And did you feel that excitement once you guys finally figured that out? Yeah, once he decided to sign with us, it lengthened our lineup. You know, it's like to have a guy like him, he's a fantastic person and he's a great hitter. So when everything came down to his signing with the Mets, obviously, from the outside looking in, it looks amazing because selfishly it makes the team better. You know, so it's like, hell yeah, now we go. We continue our journey. We continue to grow. And then I'm sure from the Mets fans' point of view, he's a homegrown player and Mets fans love homegrown players and they embrace them like no others. And he's going to be the home run leader in the franchise. So you have a guy that you drafted and he becomes their home run leader in the franchise. That don't happen too often. When you think about your lineup, obviously, now people see your lineup and it's as formidable as any lineup in the league. And then when you read the kind of analysis of the team, they talk about the pitching staff and how that's a concern. Is it a concern for you? Do you guys pay any attention to that? Not for me. Because I'm not a GM. I'm just a shortstop. No, but I feel like we have a really good pitching staff. It's just we don't have the big-time names that other teams have. But, I mean, Senga is an all-star. Vinaya has been fantastic. Clay Holm is an all-star, but now he's starting. You know, we have other guys are Peterson. It's up and coming. Miguel, up and coming. You know, we have what it takes. You know, we just don't have a lot of the track record that other teams have in their pitching staff and the big-time names. But our pitchers have been fantastic. You know, I mean, they were one of the reasons why we made it all the way last year. You know? And honestly, there were times when the Mets had big names at 1 through 5, and we'd win 70 games. So, you know, I think like you said, it's about having a deep bullpen, having a great pitching staff that's playing up, and I'm sure they hear the chatter too, which has got to be motivating. You know, I mentioned the crowd. It was pretty insane. And obviously, when you come up to bat, that moment, that's become a real memorable moment, I think, you know, having you come to bat, having the entire crowd sing My Girl. What was that playoff run like for you in terms of like moments in your life to see how electric the crowd became? It was sick. So, when you put a walk-up song, most of the guys, they put it because they're vibing to the song, they like the song, and they want the fans to engage with it. And when you can vibe to the song and the fans get behind it, and you start winning, you know, it's like, yeah, it feels good. It feels good. And we, last year during the playoffs, we had this fantastic aura, you know, like the fans would bring it. It was just like, we're at home. We're not going to lose. You know, it's like we have true home field advantage as well, you know, where it's like the crowd, it's just like you got 40-something thousand people pulling in one direction, you know, and then you have the players pulling the same direction as 40-something thousand people. It's a strong force without question. Growing up in New York, outside of, you know, one or two years, it's been a Yankee town. But during the playoffs last year, I was really loud to anyone that would listen to me, telling me that I was feeling a shift. I was at Citi Field for all the games, the first Dodgers, Phillies, and then I went to the World Series. Night and day. But did you feel that chatter and that idea that people were talking about you guys now as much, if not more, than they were talking about your crosstown rivals? I feel like the atmosphere. I feel like Citi Field is becoming the place to be. You know what I'm saying? So you have, there's certain places around the league that, yeah, there's a game, but it's more of an event. It's almost like basketball. When you go to a basketball game, there's a game, but it feels like an event. It feels like something special is happening. And that's kind of how it feels at Citi Field right now, and how it felt last year where it was a baseball game, but it felt more than a baseball game. It felt like people were just like, it was the place to be. Yeah. You know, and that's kind of how it feels this year. And I think that maybe that's why you, when you're experiencing and feeling the shift, it's, maybe that's what you are feeling. Like it's, it's almost the place to be. You know, if there's something happening and there's five things happening, which one are you going to pick? Citi Field. Yeah. I'm going to Citi Field. You know, it's like. Yeah, that's what happens when a team's in a playoffs in New York. In general, that becomes the talk of the town. But when the environment becomes almost like a music festival. Yeah. Which is what that felt like. It's where everyone wants to go. So then you have like novice fans that are just going to Citi Field because they don't want to miss the moment. Correct. I think a lot of this has also obviously aligned with new ownership, right? And I've represented Kevin for almost his entire career. And I know the difference between having a great owner. You could feel it because there's no stone unturned. And changes to an in-game experience, to the accommodations, to the commitment, to spending on players is obvious. And it can be motivating. And I know you have a good relationship with the whole family. Is that as good as it seems from the outside? A hundred percent. It is. A hundred percent. It's something that you know the whole family is putting just as much energy and effort that the players are putting into it. You know, so it's, you know they want to make this place one of the craziest best places in the league, you know, in the world. And, and, but they're doing it step by step. They're not cutting steps. You know, because when you start cutting steps, eventually it comes back to value. Always, yeah. You know, so like they're doing it step by step. You know, it's almost like they're learning, they're figuring things out, and they're doing it the right way. You know, you have Alex taking care of the families. You have Steve overseeing pretty much everything. You have Josh, you know, doing media and making sure that people, that Matt's name is, he continues to grow with the right people and alongside the right places. Um, and then, and then you have the front office that's putting the team on the field, and then you have the players are just, just as excited as ownership and front office. Yeah. Being a Met, you know, um, so there, it's, it's a good thing. There's a good thing happening. And they're lifelong Met fans. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, they, when you, when they're fans of the organization and they have the willingness and the desire to improve the organization, magical things can happen. Yeah. And that's what they've been doing. They're, every year they put the same amount of effort, you know, and I don't think it's going to stop even when we win. Yeah, you can tell. I mean, that, that man wants to win at all costs. Yeah. When you have a great year like you did last year and you go into the off season, do you have certain things that you go, okay, I want to improve upon this in my game and that becomes the focus, uh, obviously alongside the rest of your off season plan? Yeah, yeah, it does. It's a blessing and a curse, you know, because when you get so addicted to improving and getting better, sometimes you forget what you're doing right and you're so caught up in doing and fixing what you weren't as good that it gets to a point where it's like, oh, damn, I gotta, I gotta go back to what I do right, you know, and then build off that. So, it's a fine balance, it's a fine line of, do I want to improve on what I did bad and sacrifice a little bit of the things that I did very good or should I just continue to work at what I did very good and give a little bit more time on what I did bad? Yeah. You know, and, and that's kind of how I went about this off season where it's like, you do things that did a little bit bad, you know, you just work at them, but get better at the things that I did really good. And do you watch film of yourself? Every night. Every night? Yeah. After every game? After every game, yeah, because I, I, I gotta see how they're pitching me, I gotta see what I'm doing. You know, for me, I look at my mechanics, are they in the right spot? Are they not in the right spot? Why did they break down or why were they so good? You know? It's, a lot of it comes with the mindset, but I just like seeing it. I like studying. I, I'm in school every time I'm on the field. And do you have film and all the pictures too? Yeah. So you can watch their whole technique and their, their tells and stuff? Everything. I have all the pictures, I have how they, how they work, you know, and then I try to study and figure out what the strategy is. You know, if they're trying to go up, up, down, or if they're trying to go in, in, away. Are they pushing north, south, east, west? That's amazing. And you know, I think it's interesting about baseball, it's probably different than most other sports, is the amount of in-season adjustments that players make at times. Like, players actually making changes in their batting stance throughout the season. Is that something that's challenging as a player, or is that the type of thing that when you're slumping or if a hitting coach kind of tips you off to something, then you are able to kind of make that shift during the season? Yeah, so it, I guess it's like anything in life when sometimes I, I have my hands here and I drop them a little bit. In my mind, I feel like they went all the way down here. I look at the film and I'm like, a little happy. You know, it's just like, but it felt good. So, we play every day. So, it's not like other sports where you have to wait three days to make the adjustment. We play every day. So, you have the opportunity to try things out. What you can't fall into is changing every single day. Yeah. If you find something, stick to that. And just give it a week, give it two weeks, you know. They say 21 days is what creates a habit. Really? The thing they say is 21 days you create a good habit and it takes, I think, one day to break it. So, it's like, don't go every other day trying new things. You know, just find something, stick to that. Try it for a week, a week and a half. You know, but it's all based results. So, we don't have the luxury of like trying this new thing and in two weeks I haven't got a hit. Yeah. You know, you gotta perform every day. How stressful is it throughout a 162 game season when you're going through a bit of a slump as a player? When I was a younger player it was very stressful. Sleepless nights, you know. As I get older, I have learned to compartmentalize. You know, I just find buckets of like, alright, I'm home, I'm with my girls, I'm now with my son, let me just, let me be a dad. Where before it was just baseball, I couldn't fall asleep. I still have those nights, but it's less. the wear and tear in your body, that's what, that's when baseball becomes a little more tough. Do you think having, and congratulations on the birth of your son, do you think having this, this part of your life now, married, three young kids, has been an incredible balance for you overall in your life? I'm living the life I always wanted. Yeah. I tell people I'm peaking in life in a way, you know, because, like, I got an amazing wife, I got three kids, I'm playing in an amazing place, every year is about winning, every day is about winning. So, yes, I'm in a fantastic place right now. I think my girls and now my boy, they're brought a fantastic balance. I'm addicted to baseball. Yeah. You know, I live it, I breathe it, I eat it, it's baseball, baseball, baseball. So, having a family of my own, it almost like helps me get away from baseball. Yeah. And my hope is my girls are into music, dancing, you know, all the sports, so I can go outside of baseball and do other things with them. Otherwise, it'd be baseball, baseball, baseball. Yeah. But you also have so many other interests, right? Like, I would say that you're widely considered the most stylish guy in the league. You're somebody who, you know, has such an incredible kind of relevance, or I'd say cultural relevance that transcends the sport. How do you also add that level of a kind of focus, because those are things that are real for you and you've built a good business for yourself. How does that fit into a schedule as long as the baseball season? Yeah, well, it's, it almost becomes a lifestyle. It becomes part of who you are, you know, and like, going to other businesses. You hope that it's not disrupting the main thing that I do, which is baseball. So, you got to incorporate into your lifestyle, you know, make it part of your routines. Yep. Like, for me, I love clothing, I love dressing up, I'm looking at different textures and pieces, and I send it to Alan, my style coach, and I just be like, hey, what you think about this? I'm seeing something like this, and then, I want to go into the coffee area, so then I just, everywhere I go, I look at the coffees, and I ask questions about it, but it becomes part of, like, I'm always drinking coffee in the morning, so, why not learn about it while I'm drinking it? Yeah. Same thing with real estate. Everywhere I go, there's real estate. Life is a real estate. So, I'm always like, alright, what's in here? I'll just go in the app and look it up and send it to the people that are helping with it and just learn about it and figure out, you know, how much it costs and why it costs that much and just, you almost make it part of your daily routines, make it part of your lifestyle. What's a style coach? It's the guy that helps me pick out my outfits and helps me understand silhouettes, textures, and he essentially helps me live clean. Yeah, so it's almost like a level up from even just a stylist because you're like, it's an education, it's like a whole understanding of something you love. A hundred percent. For me, for some reason, when I hear stylist, it rings like you're just, someone's just bringing you clothes and it's, coaching is more about teaching, you know, it's about showing you the way, seeing potential and showing people how they can improve in certain areas, you know, and so I feel like, just like anything, there's Francis who's a baseball player, he has a batting coach. Pitchers have pitching coaches, you know, you have coaches in every stage of your life and so the same thing in fashion, you know, there's levels to everything and what I love about working with Francisco is, one, he, it's a collaboration. Like I said, it's never, it's always a conversation. It's never just, you know, I bring something and it's like, this is it, you know, it's always like, explain to me why you see this and I explain to him why this works and how the different ways we can wear it and then with Francisco, I like that it's not about just buying all the newest things, like, he likes old things, he likes vintage things, he's open to repeating his outfits, you know, it's not about, you know, having one piece and at every event there's a new piece, you know, if you pay attention to Francisco's style evolution through the years, you know, we do a lot of remixing, you know, that's what I think fashion is. Fashion isn't about, it's not about brands, it's not about piece, it's about style. I don't like going into things without understanding them, without living with no knowledge, you know, I just, if I'm gonna do it, I gotta learn about it, I wanna be a little bit more educated and that way eventually I can just help others, you know, that's the hope, you know, the hope is that in life, you learn enough about something that you can pass it on with my kids or my kids' friends or a teammate, you know, and just, cause people, I feel like we don't, we don't get to where we are without mentors. We always look up to somebody, we always say, okay, I wanna get there, we always have a north and I'm sure I'm the north for other people and I'm sure it'll be like that hopefully for the rest of my life and some people are gonna get close to me and then I'll just teach him and they'll be the north for somebody else. And then you mentioned coffee and real estate, very interesting. When you start to learn what it is that you like love about coffee, I think it's fascinating. It's the way people that drink wine that wanna make that you know, a hobby of theirs but it's coffee and real estate then things that you say, okay, I've learned about this, how do I make this part of my portfolio? How do I make this part of my business? And then to that point, in the NBA especially, I would say, but it's starting to obviously infiltrate other sports. There's this almost pressure now that young players feel that it has to be a focus at business and building what it is that's like the enterprise around you which I think every player at every level has the potential to do and should explore if they want to. Is it chatter in the clubhouse about business now more so than earlier in your career? Has it become part of what baseball is? Well, you talk about it but it's not it hasn't become the thing. It hasn't got there. I think fashion is trickling down into baseball a little bit more now. It's one of those where guys are there's more talks about outfits and I think there is talks about among business like about businesses but it's only the older players. I think in a few years it's going to be like now there's more players talking about it it's the talk in the clubhouse. It's not just let's just talk about this picture. It's let's talk about this picture. Now we got time let's talk about what do you do off the field. And our life is so known out there so publicly known that we should break up the stereotype of not talking about our personal lives. Ever since I met my wife and got kids I don't mind sharing you know my life with my teammates. Like man last night I didn't really sleep you know or like last night I went out with my wife we found this fantastic restaurant I think you should hit it up. And I think it's comes with age but I wish I would have done that a little earlier in my career. But you're young still and it's probably almost a blessing right that you were so laser focused earlier in your career and now you're able to like you said compartmentalize different things. Um yeah I said a second ago about like how I see it and see you as probably the most culturally relevant player in baseball and it has to do with how you carry yourself how you dress you know how you how you kind of talk about the things that are important to you and then also I just think that there's always an intangible right and when you look at other sports the ones that have that you know just have it and in baseball I think there's been a lacking of that for a while like I work closely with Major League Baseball and I think they can feel the moment right now for the sport but um there's still like a long way to go for that to kind of cross over the way the NBA culture has forever and you know the NFL is a different animal what do you think the sport can do um you obviously being a big part of it what can the sport do to kind of continue to grow that cultural relevance in basketball there's less players and most of the time you can correct me if I'm wrong I'm not crazy familiar with the sport but most of the players are there for a couple years together yeah so it's like a little cloud that goes everywhere in baseball it's like a lot of transactions up and down players come from different places and in baseball there's a lot of different culture I think it's a little bit more um diverse in baseball than it is in basketball football and any other sport um you have the language barrier as well so I I think the most important thing that baseball can do is to educate their players to help them put them in places where they can get a little bit of information and so they can also touch you know like sometimes things seem so far fetched in life that you don't think you can do it you know we have a lot of athletes have been trained to like the sport that you're in do it and then other things seems a little bit far fetched you know and so by getting the the education and like just being exposed to other different things you might help them feel like they can touch it in a more a little more achievable I think that's a great great point the access and just the idea that it's possible right comes from being in the room with certain people and and listening and being curious you know there was a team in 1986 in New York the Mets were about as culturally relevant and it's been almost 40 years and people still talk about that team do you like as a Met do you still hear about that era they're around they come around you know they come around you have the Darryl Strawberry you know you have that group yeah I saw Doc yesterday yeah they come around and you see them and you feel their presence yeah you know and then as a fashion person somebody likes dressing up and likes bringing different eras and culture together you look at their style you look at how they dress you know and it's like damn I want to do that I want to incorporate that and that's so you know it's you bridging the gap you know and I told them I told players that play before me they set the path for me yeah you know they did it I'm not trying to do anything different I'm just whatever they did I'm going to follow it you know and at the end of the year I'll have a good season but it's already there you know like it's very few guys like Otani might be the only one that has a different path than everybody else you know you don't see what Otani is doing do his peers think he is that incredible he is I mean he's elite at pitching elite at hitting elite at running so it's like alright you find the most elite runner and he can match up you find the most elite hitter and he can match up and you find the most elite pitcher and he can match up you know it's fantastic it's great to watch with that being said we play in a sport that any given day you can beat anybody so well speaking of that the Dodgers I just saw Bryce Harper the other day talk about how anyone that complains about the Dodgers and their quote unquote super team are losers I would assume obviously what they did doesn't bother you you like the challenge but when you watch it from the outside what do you see is it just they have no holes but you still got to go and line up and you got to compete I mean we all got holes you know we all have weaknesses my dad always tell me baseball the ball comes in the ball is round and comes in a square box doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense but it still happens so at the end of the day the Dodgers are doing what's best for their organization the Mets are doing what's best for their organization Philly is doing what's best for their organization teams that are not doing what's best for them that's their problem I'm worried about what we have here I appreciate what the Dodgers are doing they want they're not satisfied and they want to continue to put the best products on the field and I'm sure the Mets are going to do the same thing and Philly and Yankees I feel like they improved their team as well a lot of teams the league got tougher the teams improved themselves and that's good that's what you want I agree and honestly from experience super teams or whatever that means it doesn't always work it's chemistry and it's timing and there's luck involved I imagine nobody in your position sees them as unbeatable that's not how you approach anything not at all I mean they still gotta play the game and so do we you know I've been in really good teams that sucked I've been in bad teams that were great you know so yeah at the end of the day it's one of those where you gotta go out and show up and post up and we'll see what happens you almost won a world series in Cleveland last year was a special year yeah is that what motivates you is it is it just one of those things where like you're not gonna let yourself not win one in your career 100% I'm going all the way until I win one and then when I win one enjoy it have a couple glasses of wine and say alright to the side let's go into the next you know and that's what real competitors do you know they accomplish something and then they go on to the next season you know because nobody cares about what you did the year before I want it I'm in a great spot to get it and I feel like winning with this organization is gonna be something that will last forever for sure well congratulations again on your family growing good luck this year for having me I'm gonna be at as many games as I can and if we do win it I'll have a glass of wine with you with two or three or four as well hell yeah this has been Boardroom's April cover story with the one and only Francisco Lindor go to boardroom.tv download watch subscribe see y'all soon peace