The most important part of hitting comes before actually swinging the bat.
Plate discipline is what separates the good from the truly great.
And who better to recognize when a hitter has legendary plate discipline than a Cy Young winner in his prime?
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, a guy who has had multiple Cy Young-worthy seasons for the team since he arrived before the 2020 campaign, knows what he is talking about when he says Juan Soto, who happens to be his new teammate, has legendary ability to discern balls from strikes.
In an interview on Thursday upon arriving to camp, Cole praised his new teammate.
“Gerrit Cole described new teammate Juan Soto as a ‘magnificent’ hitter, with the best strike-zone awareness he’s ever seen,” MLB insider Jon Morosi tweeted.
Gerrit Cole described new teammate Juan Soto as a “magnificent” hitter, with the best strike-zone awareness he’s ever seen. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) February 15, 2024
It’s one thing to give someone a compliment: that happens a lot in baseball.
However, to say Soto has the best strike-zone awareness he has ever seen is really something.
Soto shouldn’t take that lightly.
And Cole has a very solid argument for his claim: MLB hasn’t seen such a patient, consistent hitter probably since the Barry Bonds days in the 2000s.
This is not to say they are comparable as hitters, but when talking exclusively about their ability to swing at strikes and not swing at pitches out of the strike zone, Soto is the closest thing.
He led MLB with 132 walks last year, and has a whopping 267 in the last two seasons combined.
Aaron Judge is primed for an explosive season in the RBI department if manager Aaron Boone hits Soto right in front of him.
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