JUAN SOTO seems like a big deal

ie

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/juan-soto-looks-like-the-best-teenage-hitter-in-history/

but does he have a blog

Tweets will surface from when he was 8.

oh shit, didn't see that morbius had already posted the link (i've been traveling the last few days). still, came here to post this:

https://i.imgur.com/63faZ5r.png?1

elite plate discipline from a teenager is just amazing.

this is also pretty impressive:

https://i.imgur.com/xNWGTk8.png?1

Juan Soto has seven walks after falling behind in the count 1-and-2. Dee Gordon has seven walks

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) August 6, 2018

according to b-ref, his nickname is 'childish bambino'

Age fraud hasn’t been a thing in Latin America in nearly a decade. But then again Joe Simpson is stuck in the past, so it’s not a surprise that he proffers this sort of garbage. Ignore it.

Juan Soto is 19. Period. Full stop. And he’s doing things the game never has seen before. https://t.co/V5iWMkkleF

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 8, 2018

Joe Simpson is the worst.

He really is -- I hope his slo-mo meltdown speeds up and he says something totally fire-able soon.

damn, soto has a really intimidating batting stance. he looks so locked in

Top 10 most Home Runs as a teenager:

1. Tony Conigliaro (Boston) 24
2. Bryce Harper (Washington Nationals) 22
3. Mel Ott (NY Giants) 19
4. Juan Soto (Washington Nationals) 18 <-Turns 20 October 25, 2018
5. Ken Griffey, Jr. (Seattle) 16
6. Phil Cavarretta (Cubs) 14
7. Mickey Mantle (NY Yankees) 13
8. Ed Kranepool (NY Mets) 12
9. Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 11
10. Harmon Killebrew (Washington Senators) 9

Only one behind Harper now.

Tied with Harper. Will more than likely not break Conigliaro's record, but still an incredible feat.

juan soto hit the roof of the Tokyo Dome tonight, turning a no-doubt home run into an out at the warning track (ground rules, at least in that stadium, allow the ball to remain in play)

that sucks for him, but ultimately is a much better story

They're very close statistically, but pretty sure Acuna will win ROY this week. Soto has a 40-point edge in OBP, Acuna a 35-point SLG advantage, and their BA is even; that makes Soto the more productive hitter, but it'll be viewed as a wash (Acuna's OPS+ is actually a little higher; five fewer GDP, for one thing), and Acuna has more HR and--going by dWAR, anyway--better defense.

James's rundown of last year's rookies:

http://www.billjamesonline.com/the_rookies_of_2018/

"Acuna ranks a little ahead of Soto because he had almost the same OPS and better defense in a tougher park for a hitter, but in all honesty I think I would choose Soto."

my man bill james otm

acuña deserved the ROY but i think i'm more impressed with soto's season

― mookieproof, Tuesday, November 13, 2018 3:16 PM (two weeks ago)

My first “Juan Soto is good” tweet of the year. Juan Soto is good.

— FantasyRundown.com (@FantasyRundown) March 30, 2019

Best OBP before age-21 (min. 550 PAs):
1. Ted Williams - .436
2. Mel Ott - .414
3. John McGraw - .412
4. Jimmie Foxx - .410
5. Juan Soto - .402https://t.co/mgTtlNrgK5

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) April 18, 2019

20yo Juan Soto's MLB career SLG > 20yo Vlad Jr's career MLB OPS

geez give VGJ more than a week

my brain kept trying to read that acronym as jeff van gundy

future dh

He's now played 162 games:

292/.402/.519 with 31 homers, 107 runs & 107 RBI.

what were Trout's first 162? can someone PlayIndex that?

https://moretalk.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/mike-trout-the-first-162-games/

.309/.374/.531 (accomplished while 2 years older than Soto)

that's a very impressive line from trout, too, considering that his first 40 games (during his rookie 2011) he slashed vajazzled .220/.281/.390

Two homers today. Soto won't come anywhere near Trout's 10.5 WAR in his age-20 season (defense and juiced ball, among other things), but his raw offensive totals in many categories are going to match or surpass Trout's.

Juan Soto (@Nationals) is the 3rd player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs before turning 21 years old, joining Mel Ott (61) and Tony Conigliaro (56). pic.twitter.com/qjMLcRG8si

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 18, 2019

Soto's got such a nice fluid swing, I would not be surprised if he starts hitting over .300 at some point.

Nats have hit the draft lottery twice in a short time, pretty nice to be able to replace Harper pretty much straight up with perhaps a higher ceiling.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/juan-soto-becomes-first-nl-player-to-hit-30-home-runs-in-a-season-before-age-21-since-frank-robinson/

Soto's got such a nice fluid swing, I would not be surprised if he starts hitting over .300 at some point.

― earlnash, Sunday, August 18, 2019 5:21 PM (two weeks ago)

prescient post

Lifted this from Sports Illustrated:

And because Soto has a Baseball Reference-calculated Wins Above Replacement mark of 5.0 and Acuña is at 4.8, they are, in all likelihood, going to end up on this short list of pairs of players under 22 to share a 5-WAR season:

Donie Bush (6.5) and Tris Speaker (6.3), 1909
Jimmie Foxx (7.9) and Mel Ott (7.4), 1929
Eddie Mathews (8.3) and Mickey Mantle (5.8), 1953
Al Kaline (8.2) and Hank Aaron (6.3), 1955
Frank Robinson (6.6) and Kaline (6.5), 1956
Trout (10.5) and Harper (5.2), 2012
Trout (9.0) and Machado (6.7), 2013

that trout guy was good

That was the premise of the SI piece I took that from: that Acuña/Soto are the new Trout/Harper (acknowledging that the latter is a non-issue now).

Devers (22) has a fWAR of 5.5 (ie, higher than Acuna & Soto)

or wait is it <=22 or <22?

wow that's a very impressive list of HOFers, future HOFers, some guy named Donie Bush, and Bryce Harper.

Per Baseball-Reference, Soto joins Alex Rodriguez, Ruben Sierra and Jose Canseco as the only major-league hitters in the last 50 years to record a 30-homer, 100-RBI, 10-steal season before their age 22 season.

I don't really understand his contract status:

Signed thru 2019, Earliest Arb Eligible: 2022, Earliest Free Agent: 2025

If he's only signed through this season but not eligible for arbitration until 2022, what does that mean for 2020 and 2021?

i'm not sure about the technical/legal background but it's similar for other pre-arb players. soto is definitely under team control through 2022

by "similar" i mean you'll see the same kind of contract status for other pre-arb players

Thanks. Baseball Reference should make that clearer...if they control him until 2022, why not just say "signed through 2021." There's almost an implication of the old reserve-clause system there, where the Nationals can just renew him for whatever they want in 2020/21.

hey clemenza, just noticed that fangraphs has updated their contract summary pages for each team. i don't know what you usually refer to for that kind of information, but to me this is pretty much the easiest and simplest way to get it. here's the page for the nats:

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/nationals

and here's more info: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/introducing-rosterresource-payroll-pages/

One of the things that makes Juan Soto special is his mature approach at the plate. The Nationals outfielder may not be able to legally buy alcohol in the United States, but he doesn’t just have the discipline of a seasoned vet, he has the discipline of Joey Votto in his prime. A 15 percent walk rate would be good for anyone, but it’s incredible for someone who is younger than OK Computer.

His low chase rate is the primary driver of his ability to draw a walk, but Soto has another strategy he employs. When the count reaches two strikes, Soto crouches down lower to shrink his strike zone.

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/9/4/20848679/juan-soto-washington-nationals-two-strike-crouch-robot-umps

Kinda faded a bit over the last 2 weeks of the season, but can now add "clutch postseason heroics" to his CV.

Juan Soto is the second youngest player in postseason history to have a WPA over .500 in a game.

The youngest, Miguel Cabrera, did it in Game 4 of the 2003 NLDS, a series-clinching game but not an elimination one https://t.co/XL00s8G42k pic.twitter.com/kPjbewAa9k

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) October 2, 2019

<3

you can’t choose family!

loool please explain this disperse family!

i mean i get the uconn

5 years of inflation can do a lot…. But with an extra 4 mil a year making up for that… seems he’s a lifetime Met

should close this thread and start a new one that polls how dumb that contract is going to play out

why close the thread when he's a bigger deal than ever

xp

How will the Juan Soto Mets deal play out?

how dumb that contract is going to play out

oh no, juan soto won't be worth $50m when he's 40 years old, that's a brutal fail that all mets fans will be ruing forever

idk what seems crazy to me is that a lot of the mega contracts signed in the past 5 years or so seem crazy cheap now. i mean what’s the expected aav of judge’s 2024 season?

most (all?) of those mega contracts were half this price though. Hell even Ohtani’s contract is 57% of this Soto one when deferrals are taken into account

i’m talking about aav not total size which is misleading

don't get me wrong- as a non-NY sports fan living in NY, i'm absolutely going to love my drives to/from work listening to people lose their minds over this contract on WFAN for the next 15 years.

you can’t choose family!

loool please explain this disperse family!

― mookieproof, Sunday, December 8, 2024 8:31 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i mean i get the uconn

― mookieproof, Sunday, December 8, 2024 8:32 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

- born and raised in upstate NY in 90s: yankees, no other option. since mid-90s (dad was a pirates fan to be fair)
- dad was a big eagles fan = eagles fan (since early 00s)
- parents went to/met at syracuse university, became nuggets fan when melo was drafted (2003)
- went to uconn

<3

don't get me wrong- as a non-NY sports fan living in NY, i'm absolutely going to love my drives to/from work listening to people lose their minds over this contract on WFAN for the next 15 years.

The Yankees were in the lead for Soto all through the process, through the weekend and late afternoon today. Steve Cohen came from the top rope very late and got it done.

— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) December 9, 2024

Nice way to start a Monday. I agree with mookie, as per the other thread:

There is no way Soto is going to be able to "live up" to that contract. He's not going to be a force in his late thirties, so the contract comes down to the next 10 years. If Soto is Soto for a solid 10 years and the Mets win a WS, no one, including Steve Cohen, is going to care about the rest of the contract.

Exactly, thought we all knew the back end of big contracts is just to lower the AAV & a sunk cost, esp given that $51m now is going to be worth a lot less in 15 years.

This is actually astounding from Heyman if true:

https://twitter.com/oneshiningmets/status/1865996095056126265

No workee

Sorry, text of tweet:

This is interesting from Jon Heyman, apparently Steve Cohen found out that Juan Soto got pissed about the Yankees not allowing a family member & his driver in a certain clubhouse area.

So Cohen then brought the Mets traveling secretary to explain family perks to their meeting.

And image:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GeVZjv7XMAAvU2l?format=jpg&name=large

Yankees cop adjacency biting them in the ass, finally

I mean it was the money, but that stuck out as a strange detail for Heyman to include so who knows

Juan Soto is Rizz Approved‼️🤫🤔😎🫡

— The Rizzler (@Da_Rizzler419) December 9, 2024

I was just wondering about that 🤔

Xp yankee security:

No one can tell me this isn't the plot of a Seinfeld episode. George fubs the signing of the century by not letting the superstar w/ family into in the employee only section of the stadium; smarmy grin, fade to black. Love them Yanks

just comparing that yearly salary vs Judge is crazy. i don't see how Soto (being an elite hitter, meh base runner, garbage fielder) is worth over 25% more than Judge. it's madness. probably Judge took a hometown discount vs what he might have gotten elsewhere, but still

MLB regular season games played before age 26:

Juan Soto: 936
Aaron Judge: 182
Shohei Ohtani: 266

MLB postseason stats:

Juan Soto: .285/.421/.532 (.953 OPS)
Aaron Judge: .205/.318/.450 (.768 OPS)
Shohei Ohtani: .230/.373/.393 (.766 OPS)

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0NBBcC5/juan.jpg

The "one more thing" is flair.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/42913097/juan-soto-new-york-met-story-record-contract

alright who’s got the insider sub??

Click reader if you’re on your phone & it should work

I didn’t watch the Soto presser but supposedly he said none of the Yankees were in touch after the WS? That seems so strange.

agreed. wonder if there's a lack of leadership/comradery in the club house. or maybe just no one liked the guy?!

They wanted him back pretty badly, so if that was the case they should have put that aside. Soto & Judge was the best offensive duo in the league, their numbers might have been historical iirc? It might be the organisational approach; the article says that Hal Steinbrenner’s relationship with him was more passive, Steinbrenner wanted to give him space during the season. But that is not necessarily how it came across per the piece.

That might be the most boring "insider story of ____" articles I've ever read. Boras did Boras stuff and got big money for his client, one team is happy, others aren't. Big deal.

Thanks for your input.

https://nypost.com/2024/12/15/sports/how-juan-soto-steve-cohen-celebrated-their-765-million-mets-pact/

After getting started with a mozzarella and tomato salad, Soto went for the ribeye cooked “medium-plus,” per the report.

smh

🚮

I saw a video once where players were asked how they ordered their steak and it was like a sea of well done and medium well done.

most baseball players are hillbillies

He just turned 26 years old... Give him some time to develop his palate.

juan soto in june: .325/.485/.753

is not wildly unlike aaron judge in 2025: .361/.461/.719

In a subpar year, headed for 7.0 WAR (and not because of his fielding prowess) and a 150 OPS+.

Wasn't there a thread that compared VGJr, FTJr and Soto?

At any rate, as posted by u/Juan_Soto_Stats (not me):

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1m0qqkk/juan_soto_is_only_26_how_are_his_career_numbers/

ah it was our northern neighbo(u)r Clemenza:

I compared Tatis/Soto/Acuna for a Facebook post (pro-rated for 162 games):

Tatis: 44 HR, 31 SB, .301/.374/.582, 154 OPS+, 7.9 WAR
Soto: 36 HR, 12 SB, .295/.415/.557, 151 OPS+, 5.0 WAR
Acuna: 42 HR, 32 SB, .281/.371/.538 133 OPS+, 6.3 WAR

I was trying to think of three players this good at the same age (22/23--the range between Tatis and Acuna is a year and 15 days). I thought of Griffey/Thomas/Bonds, but Bonds was four or five years older than them; if you put aside what we know now, Griffey/Thomas/Gonzalez might be comparable. It's possible you'd have to go back to Mays/Aaron/Mantle, although Aaron was three years younger than the other two.

― clemenza, Friday, February 19, 2021 3:37 AM (four years ago)

He's only played 75 games, but Bo Bichette--between Soto and Acuna in age--actually falls more or less within the same range:

Bichette: 35 HR, 17 SB, .307/.347/.549, 137 OPS+, 6.9 WAR

― clemenza, Friday, February 19, 2021 4:39 AM (four years ago)

4 years later check-in:

Soto: .283/.418/.530 - 39.3 fWAR/40.3 bWAR - 158 WRC+/160 OPS+
AcunaJr: .291/.382/.528 - 30.6 fWAR/28.0 bWAR - 143 WRC+/141 OPS+
TatisJr: .278/.353/.521 - 24.5 fWAR/25.6 bWAR - 137 WRC+/138 OPS+
VladJr: .287/.365/.494 - 18.7 fWAR/24.1 bWAR - 136 WRC+/136 OPS+
BBichJr: .289/.331/.463 - 18.0 fWAR/19.1 bWAR - 118 WRC+/118 OPS+

was genuinely surprised at Bichette tbh, either that or fangraphs really doesn't love VladJr (does fangraphs incorporate more accurate park factors into their modeling?)

could be defence. there seems to be some difference of opinions whether Vlad is a great defender or very mediocre.

I'm actually amazed that Vlad is still there with Tatis Jr.--the latter to me is a much more dangerous hitter. (But I guess numbers don't lie.)

Now that I look at it, Tatis's last three seasons are markedly inferior to his first three.

He seemed to play better with the ringworms.

Performance enhancing infection

There is a nice symmetry to his BRef career box: three HOF seasons at the top, three good-everyday-player (and sometimes AS) seasons at the bottom, with this strange "Did not play - injury and PED suspension" row smack in the middle...