Juan Soto, a “genius hitter” who was traded from the San Diego Padres to the New York Yankees a year before his FA qualification, is showing off his momentum this season.
Soto, who will become an FA after the end of the season, has been playing MVP-class with .299.431.603 (batting rate-on-base rate-long hitting rate) 35 home runs, 88 RBIs, wRC+ (adjusted creative scoring ability) 188 fWAR (contributing to victory over substitute players) 7.4.
In 2022, Soto, then a member of the Washington Nationals, showed confidence in the FA by rejecting a 15-year, $440 million (597.3 billion won) mega extension contract without a grace period. And he is proving that he is worth more than that through his strong performance this season.
In particular, he hit his first career home run in three consecutive at-bats against the Chicago White Sox on August 13 (local time), tying his personal season record (35) achieved last season more than a month before the end of the season.
Soto has reached the highest level even with his slugging power
The reason why Soto’s performance this season is surprising is that he succeeded in raising his slugging power, which was considered a disappointment of 2%, to the top of the league while maintaining the league’s best on-base ability.
Soto’s slugging power has taken another leap this season because he is often producing good hits with a .779 slugging percentage (second in the league) against fastball players.
Since his debut in the Major League in 2018, Soto has been considered one of the best fastball killers in the league, ranking second only to his teammate Judge in the OPS ranking until last year. This season, however, he is displaying a truly exciting batting performance against fastball pitchers (OPS 1.246).
The biggest secret of Soto’s hard hitting against fastball players is that he is very strong against relatively high-course fastball players.
This season, Soto hit a league-high 25 home runs against fastball players who are entering the game except for those with low strike zone. Such power was directly attributed to an increase in slugging percentage.먹튀검증
Yankee Stadium, Soto’s home stadium, is considered a relatively easy stadium for left-handed hitters to hit home runs because the right fence is relatively short and the fence height is low.
However, no matter which stadium Soto used as his home ground in the Major League this season, he has hit more than 32 home runs so far. This is why his slugging capability cannot be considered temporary.
If we overcome the weakness of the breaking ball, we can sign a contract with Ohtani class
Soto, who has improved his slugging capability, is regrettable compared to other top-class batters in his performance against the breaking ball type. Soto’s OPS against breaking balls this season stands at .772, which is very low compared to his teammate Jerzyna (1.017) and Ohtani (.992), the best hitter in the NL.
However, the center of attention is targeting the opponent team’s actual pitching well, with an OPS of 0.843 against the breaking ball type pitches. In addition, the ideal firing angle ratio (firing angle of 8 degrees to 32 degrees, 33 percent) and the strong hitting ratio (firing speed of 95 miles/153 KM or more, 50 percent) of the balls targeted at the breaking ball type pitches are also considered “career high.”
Considering this, the biggest reason Soto’s poor performance against the breaking ball team this season was that the well-hit balls were often destined for the fielder’s face. As Soto’s on-base percentage against breaking balls is .389, which is the level of the league’s TOP 5, it is difficult to say that Soto is a batter who is a weak point in his overall ability to cope with breaking balls.
However, against the breaking ball type pitches that come into the low strike zone course this season, the ratio of ground balls has risen to 73%, showing a decrease in quality batting production capacity to the extent that the opponent’s OPS reached .400.
In order for Soto to get close to the highest-ever Ohtani-class contract (a 10-year total of $700 million), he will need to make more quality pitches against breaking balls.
The Yankees’ decision to recruit Soto at the risk of considerable prospect bleeding as Soto led the team to the top of the league with his MVP-class performance this season is regarded as a truly divine move.
Can Soto, who is in sight to achieve his first 40 home runs, also win the AL MVP competition with his teammate Aaron Judge? Attention is focusing on how close Soto, who will become an FA at the age of 26, three years younger than Ohtani, will be to Ohtani’s contract, the highest ever.