Surging Mets rookie A.J. Ewing credits Juan Soto for his development

CINCINNATI — A.J.Ewing studied his surroundings upon the Mets’ initial arrival to Great American Ball Park this week and found the whole situation “weird.”The rookie outfielder grew up about 35 miles from here, in Springboro, Ohio, and attended a handful of Reds games in his youth.

By his own admission, he wasn’t a huge fan of the team but took a special interest in watching Joey Votto perform.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.

“I watched some cool games here,” Ewing said Tuesday before the Mets faced the Reds.“I watched Homer Bailey throw a no-hitter when I was 8 years old.

That is the one I remember pretty vividly.”This week, it’s Ewing’s friends and family — a few dozen strong — in the house to watch him.There is plenty to like.Ewing’s defensive ability and baserunning have been evident since his arrival from Triple-A Syracuse on May 12, but lately his offense has caught up with the rest of his game.Ewing entered play with a .289/.340/.444 slash line in June that raised his OPS to .706.

His most recent big game offensively was Sunday, when he homered as part of a three-hit afternoon in helping the Mets complete a series victory over the Braves.Over his last 12 games entering play, he had produced an .858 OPS.“He takes really good at-bats,” Juan Soto said.

“Most of the time he’s in 3-2 counts, he’s battling and he’s making pitchers sweat, that is all we can ask for.”The 21-year-old is certainly seizing the opportunity presented after Luis Robert Jr.was placed on the injured list with lumbar spine disc herniation.

That injury left the Mets with a need in center field that Ewing has filled.Ewing has joined another rookie, Carson Benge, to help give the Mets a promising young outfield.Even Ewing isn’t sure he would have foreseen this in spring training when he was in camp with the major league time for the first tim...