JUAN SOTO seems like a big deal

Youngest to hit a World Series home run: Andruw Jones, 19 years, 180 days; Miguel Cabrera, 20 years, 187 days; Mickey Mantle, 20 years, 352 days; Juan Soto, 20 years, 362 days.

Soto & Jones are the only <20 year olds to hit a HR in their WS debut.

Nats Dominican academy pic.twitter.com/vLIoQLrWF5

— johnny (@dipuglia) October 23, 2019

Happy birthday, Juan Soto!

We will adjust our World Series content accordingly. pic.twitter.com/jAICJ0t14q

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 25, 2019

Watching Juan Soto lash a beautiful oppo homer this afternoon is as good a reason as any to gaze in wonder yet again at his career XBH spray chart. pic.twitter.com/g3RJlP7H6D

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) February 25, 2020

cardinals broadcast made sure to keep track of how long his home run trot was (25.5 seconds)

iirc last week when someone asked him what his goals for spring training were, he said 'to make the team'

otm

i think he will probably make the team

*crosses fingers*

positive for COVID

After being away from the team for ten days due to a positive COVID-19 test, Juan Soto returned to the Nationals on Saturday and joined the team for a workout at Nats Park. “For me, in my mind, I think it was a [false] positive,” he said. “I’ve been working on it. I tested a bunch of times negative. Following the rules, being in the right spot. I think that’s why I think it’s a [false] positive because I’ve been following the rules. I’ve been really serious with this. It’s out there. But, for me, they can look at me however they want. I’m going to be the same guy.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/nationals/juan-soto-rejoins-nationals-nationals-park

Activated from the IL but not in the starting lineup...?

Maybe need a Fernando Tatis Jr. thread to parallel this one (born about two months later).

Go for it, lots of lesser players have dedicated threads.

I'm the guy who jumped the gun on Carlos Correa.

Jumping the Gun: the Carlos Correa Thread

Or you could do a poll like TROUT V. HARPER but throw in Acuña as another option?

I mean...

FREE HUNTER PENCE!!!

yeah but hunter pence is awesome, love that guy.

jose martinez is an honorary hunter pence, to me

Fernando Tatis Jr. is Bringing Joy Back to Baseball

i won't regret this

also considered a "how many seasons will it take for FTJr to surpass james shields in WAR" poll but that just seems mean

2020 OPS
https://i.imgur.com/j2FmMMG.jpg

this year he's no Mike Yastrzemski

nor any other year I hope.

Or you could do a poll like TROUT V. HARPER but throw in Acuña as another option?

And maybe Bo Bichette too. (Okay, I'm cherry-picking after his big night.)

In-depth analysis of his season to date:

https://www.mlb.com/news/juan-soto-best-all-around-hitter-2020

"Tatis and Soto aren't just the best young stars in Major League Baseball. They're the best players."

Way too early, and not a real season anyway, but for what it's worth, Baseball Reference has Betts as the best player in baseball right now.

Top of the 3rd: Nats down 0-4 to the Red Sox.

Trea Turner hits a lead off double.

Soto is faced with a radical shift, and surprisingly decides to bunt down the 1B line with Turner running. The pitcher has trouble fielding it, throws it over the 1B's head, Turner scores, Soto takes 2nd on the throw home. Sets up a 3-run response that puts the Nats back into the game.

Highest SLG since 2004 (Bonds) was Yelich last year: .671
Soto is at .800

Soto 2019: 132 strikeouts vs 34 homers
Soto 2020: 13 strikeouts vs 11 homers

From a SI piece: "Among those with at least 1,000 plate appearances prior to their age-22 season, Soto's career OPS through his age-21 season ranks fourth, behind only Ted Williams (1.041), Jimmie Foxx (1.015) and Mel Ott (.986)."

(Which is .967...mlb.com piece, I mean.)

They pulled Soto after going 1-1 today--some things never change--so it looks like he'll win the slash TC. Younger than when Williams did it in '41, so I'm guessing he's the youngest ever.

With a 60-game asterisk

For sure--on top of which, he only played in 75% of his team's games. Still, looking at the list of people who've done this post-1900, it's a pretty imposing group of players. (Sherry Magee and Fred Lynn were about the worst, and they were pretty damn good.)

http://cliffcorcoran.com/2012/09/25/slash-stat-triple-crown-winners/

Juan Soto leading off innings in 2020:
13-for-25
Four doubles
Four homers.
Eight walks.
One hit by pitch.
One strikeout.
For your basic .520/.647/1.160 slash line.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 14, 2020

Extending Juan Soto… All the Way to Cooperstown

https://i.redd.it/o75iy76dgum61.jpg

Do ZIPS projections usually spit out such metronomic consistency? Those totals are possible--though they would probably make him one of the 10 best hitters ever; rather optimistic--but no fluctuations for injury, off-year, pitcher's years, pandemics, etc. seems highly unlikely.

well, yes. it's a projection, not a forecast -- it's not like they can predict soto will blow out his knee and miss the 2028 season. and of course it's somewhat fantastical, but i wouldn't say jaffe is prone to hyperbole.

the biggest caveat, as mentioned in the article, is that he becomes unplayable in the outfield

I’m surprised he isn’t that good a fielder tbh.
I wonder how often fielding improves over time. I would think not often, but maybe with a guy that young there’s a better chance?

zips accounts for injury at least by projecting fewer and fewer ABs every season, it just doesn't project a random huge injury or anything like that

john sickels of minorleagueball.com used to do crystal ball predictions that i believe were 100% handmade, and he would always have fun with predicting things like that. and then he would have players sign with expansion teams that didn't exist yet or move to the KBO in their last 2-4 years

this is the only super old one i can find, probably pissed off a lot of reds fans at the time
https://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3261/brucestats.JPG

I know you can't predict injury; I was probably thinking more of minor adjustments for the up-and-down nature of a career. I'd have to dig one out, but James used to do occasional career projections in the Abstracts, and I'm pretty sure there was some acknowledgement in his--something built in to however he'd programmed them--that careers don't rise and fall in straight lines. Not a big deal.

clem, it’s based on like a million simulations. it’s not predicting that’s how his career will look exactly, but on average that is the trajectory of a young star’s career. he’ll have a year with 3 WAR and another with 9 instead of the smooth rise and fall, but in the end it evens out

Would love to see a similar table for Acuna.

In the late '80s-early '90s, the Rotisserie League Baseball guys would publish a book every year with fantasy predictions and have a full stat line for each player. Complete BS because none of them were analysts and it went to print in December most likely but it put me on a dark path of doing the same for a few years and of assembling the complete "projected" stats for my entire rotisserie teams each year.

OTOH, my first year of having a solo team in my dad's league was 1990 and I bought Bobby Thigpen and Cecil Fielder at the auction.

soto years 1 and 2: 1154 PA, .287/.403/.535, 142 OPS+, 231 SO, 187 BB
soto years 3 and 4: 742 PA, .315/.460/.566, 180 OPS+, 108 SO, 155 BB

SOTO WILL also BE MVP BY 2025, IT IS KNOWN

where is that poll thread of the young guns?

Old Man Acuña

stunned by the plate discipline of soto and vlad at their ages