Juan Soto

BIOGRAPHY

Juan Soto was born October 25, 1998, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is an outfielder in the MLB.

Soto made his major-league debut on May 20, 2018, becoming the youngest player in the major leagues at 19 years, 207 days, and the first player born in 1998 to appear in a major-league game. 

Soto became only the fourth player in MLB history to record 100 extra-base hits before his 21st birthday, joining Mel Ott, Tony Conigliaro, and his former teammate, Bryce Harper. He later became the seventh MLB player in history to reach 30 home runs before their 21st birthday. In 2019, he batted .282/.401/.548 with 110 runs (7th), 108 walks (3rd), 34 home runs, and 110 RBIs (9th) and he stole 12 bases in 13 attempts.

With the Nationals trailing the Milwaukee Brewers 3–1 in the bottom of the eighth during the NL Wild Card Game, Soto hit a bases-clearing single off of Brewers closer Josh Hader to give the Nationals a 4–3 lead. They would later hang on to the lead and advance to the National League Division Series.

In Game 3 of the NLDS, Soto hit his first career postseason home run off Hyun-jin Ryu. In in the decisive Game 5 of the NLDS, Soto hit an RBI single in the 6th inning off of Walker Buehler and later hit a game-tying home run in the top of the 8th off Clayton Kershaw. The Nationals would go on to win in 10 innings and eliminated the Dodgers, advancing to the National League Championship Series for the first time in franchise history. 

In Game 1 of the World Series, Soto hit a home run off of Astros' ace Gerrit Cole to start the fourth inning and became the fourth youngest player in MLB history to ever hit a home run in a World Series. Game 3 of the World Series fell on October 25, Soto's 21st birthday, fulfilling an approximately 10 year old prediction made by Soto's father who had said that Soto would play in the World Series on his birthday. In Game 5 of the series, Soto hit another home run off Cole, providing the lone Nationals' run in a 7–1 loss which put the Nationals down 3 games to 2 in the best-of-seven series. In Game 6, Soto hit his third home run of the series off Justin Verlander, a go-ahead solo run home run, to help force a decisive Game 7.

The Nationals would go on to win the World Series, their first in franchise history, and Soto batted .277/.373/.554 with 5 home runs and 14 RBIs in the postseason (.333/.438/.741 with 3 HR, 7 RBIs in the World Series). For the series, he led the Nationals in home runs, hits, walks and runs scored. Soto was later named the co-winner (with Stephen Strasburg) of the 2019 Babe Ruth Award. Soto was named to the All-MLB Second Team in the first edition of the annual award.

In 2020, Soto became the youngest player in National League history to win a batting title, hitting .351 during the regular season. Soto also led all qualified hitters in MLB in on-base percentage (.490), slugging percentage (.695), and on-base plus slugging (1.185), posting the highest marks in those three categories for any major league hitter with at least 195 plate appearances in a season since Barry Bonds in the 2004 season. Soto won his first career Silver Slugger Award and finished 5th in NL MVP voting and was also named to the All-MLB First Team. 

In the Nationals' first game of the season on April 6, Soto hit a walk-off single off of Will Smith of the Atlanta Braves for his first career walk-off hit. On April 20, Soto was put on the 10-Day IL for a left shoulder strain and was reinstated to the active roster on May 4. Soto was named a reserve to the National League All Star Team for the 2021 All Star Game, receiving his first All-Star selection. Soto also participated in the Home Run Derby for the first time, where he upset top-seeded Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani in double-overtime before losing in the semifinal to eventual winner Pete Alonso of the Mets. 

In 2021, Soto batted .313/.465/.534 with 29 home runs, 95 RBIs, and 111 runs scored. He reinforced his reputation as the most disciplined hitter in baseball by swinging at an MLB-low 15.1% of pitches outside the strike zone, leading the next closest player, Dodgers infielder Max Muncy, by 4.0 percentage points. Soto joined Ted Williams as the only players in MLB history to have led the major leagues in on base percentage multiple times by age 22. His total of 145 walks was the highest in a single season since Barry Bonds set the major league record with 232 in 2004. Soto's former teammate Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies ranked second in the league with 100 walks, making Soto only the 6th player in the live ball era to have led his league in walks by a margin of 40 or more. He led the major leagues in walk percentage, at 22.2%, and intentional walks, with 23. He had the best walk/strikeout ratio in the majors, at 1.56. He swung at the lowest percentage of pitches of all major leaguers, at 35.0%.

Following the season, Soto was named to the All-MLB First Team and won the National League Silver Slugger Award for the outfield, receiving both honors for the second straight season. Soto was the runner up in National League Most Valuable Player Award (NL MVP) voting, losing out to Harper. Soto became the sixth player in MLB history to finish as runner-up in both MVP and Rookie of the Year voting.

Soto was named to the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. On July 18th, 2022, Soto won the Home Run Derby. He became the 2nd youngest Home Run Derby winner behind Juan Gonzalez who won in 1993. Soto was one day older.

On August 2, 2022, Soto, along with Josh Bell, was traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for C. J. Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell, James Wood, Jarlin Susana, and Luke Voit.

Overall in 2023. Soto played in all 162 games with a .275 batting average, 35 home runs, 109 RBI and an MLB-leading 132 walks.

On December 6, 2023, the Padres traded Soto and Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees for Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, and Kyle Higashioka.