Washington Nationals star outfielder Juan Soto is already, at 23 years old, a special hitter.
Lots of people agree on the fact that he may be the most difficult out in the major leagues, harder than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Mike Trout, for example.
And they may very well be right.
The always reliable Codify Baseball is gifting us with a really impressive Soto stat.
“No one in all of baseball history walked more times before their 23rd birthday than Juan Soto,” they tweeted, with a surprised emoji.
No one in all of baseball history walked more times before their 23rd birthday than Juan Soto. 😮 pic.twitter.com/Cf2xjy5vZI
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 6, 2022
Soto is a special hitter; not because of his power: he hit “only” 29 homers last year, and the league leader had 48.
He is such an excellent batter because of his plate discipline, which has no rivals in MLB.
A Master In Getting On Base
Soto slashed .313/.465/.534 last season, en route to a second-place finish in the MVP vote.
The .313 average is impressive, and the .534 slugging percentage is certainly fantastic.
But that .465 on-base percentage is the one stat that stands out.
He got on base in almost half of his plate appearances: can you imagine how difficult to achieve is that?
Can you picture how much of a nightmare he is for opposing pitchers?
Soto’s walk rate was 22.2 percent, and his strikeout rate was a minuscule 14.2 percent.
Not even Trout has those kind of plate discipline metrics, and Trout is the best hitter of our generation.
This kid is really, really special, and it’s actually not hard to see why he could very well be the first $500 million player in the history of MLB.
The Nationals really got themselves a legitimate star: Soto is a complete player, with good defense and even some speed.
But what he does at the plate really sets him apart.
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