outside that space. Last season nobody swung at fewer
pitches out of the zone than Soto (12.2%).
“He is in total control of the at bat,” says former team-
mate Ryan Zimmerman. “These are the guys every sport
needs—the five to 10 guys who are just so much better
than everyone else. He’s one of those freaks.
“And actually, his success rate is a lot more than what
you think. Other teams know they’re not going to let
him beat them. He’s getting much more of a limited
opportunity. It’s pretty ridiculous.”
In 2021, for instance, Soto ranked with Bryce Harper,
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei
Ohtani among the top five OPS hitters in MLB. Soto did
his damage with 911 swings. The other four averaged
1,152 swings, or 26% more.
Soto saw 2,601 pitches last year. It is the nature of such
volume and the grind of a season, aches and pains, lousy
weather and lopsided scores, that focus wanes, which
results in “giving away” a plate appearance. To Soto,
every one of those 2,601 pitches is the Battle of Agincourt.
“It doesn’t matter if we are losing 20–0 or winning
20–0,” Soto says. “I won’t give it away. Because at the
end of the day, I don’t want them to say, ‘Oh, he hit .299
because he gave one at bat away when they were winning
20–0.’ They all count the same.”The Nationals’ 2019 season is four outs away from expira-
tion when Soto bats against Brewers relief ace Josh Hader
in the wild-card game. Two outs. Bases loaded. Down 3–1.
“What do I tell myself? It won’t be a slider,” Soto says.
“Because if you’re paying attention to the game, he wastrying to throw his slider, and none of them were for strikes.
So I removed the slider. I just sit on fastball all the way.
“I know he’s going to throw it and I know he’s going to
throw it high because that’s his best pitch and I know it’s
going to be hard. So I tell myself, ‘Get on time. Get a single
through the middle and then enjoy.’ ”
Hader starts Soto with a 97-mph fastball. Soto fouls it
back. The next pitch is a slider off the plate that Soto rejects
with such impunity that he breaks out the shuffle, stares at
Hader, tugs at his crotch, shrugs his shoulders like a boxer
waiting for the bell and then, staring at the ground, cracks
a fiendish smile. Uh-oh. Hader is in trouble. He has thrown
29 pitches. Only six were sliders. Only one of those was a strike.
Soto knows what’s coming. Batters are hitting .168 against
Hader’s fastball. This one is 95.3 mph at the top of the zone.
It is the slowest of the 24 fastballs Hader throws that inning.
He pulls it for a single into right field, where it takes an
odd bounce past an overly aggressive Trent Grisham. All
three runners score. The Nationals win, 4–3. Soto is only
the third player—and the youngest ever—to turn a deficit
into a win with a hit that late in a sudden-death playoff
game, joining Francisco Cabrera of the 1992 Braves and
Edgar Martinez of the ’95 Mariners.SOTO FELL IN love with baseball because of the
Red Sox and their Dominican stars, Pedro Martínez,
David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez. Young Juan would
rip two sheets of paper from a notebook, crumple them
into a ball, cover it with tape and act out by himself a
Red Sox–Yankees game in a hallway of his house.
“I used to live in a tough hood [in Santo Domingo],
and my mom didn’t let me go out that often so I had to54
NL WILD-CARD GAME
Expecting Hader’s nasty heater,
Soto shortened his stroke, lined it
to right and drove in three runs.NLDS GAME 5
Soto knew he would hit a home run
off Kershaw as soon as he saw the
Dodgers’ ace warming up.THE
LEGEND
OF SOTO
Four at bats during the
2019 postseason, against
four of baseball’s best
pitchers, reveal how the
mind of this generation’s
hitting genius works