Juan Soto: A Washington Nationals Story
There has been a lot of talk over the last year or so about what the Washington Nationals should do with its soon-to-be free agent, star outfielder Bryce Harper. Should they resign him? Can they resign him? Should they trade him if they can’t resign him?
But lost in all the noise is the emergence of his most likely in-house replacement: Juan Soto. He’s just 19 years-old, and now that he’s healthy, he has been destroying pitchers at all levels of the minor leagues.
Last year, baseball fans heard a lot about Victor Robles—the dynamic center fielder of the future for the Nationals. He’s a top-5 prospect on just about everyone’s lists and with good reason. He looks to be an All-Star caliber player on offense and defense.
Meanwhile, there was a then 18-year-old right fielder that caught the eye of prospectors who dug a little deeper. Soto has all the tools, but last season while other young stars like Ronald Acuña and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were gaining notoriety, he was dealing with some injury issues.
Now, we are seeing what he can do. He killed Single-A with a slash line of .373/.486/.814 and a 1.300 OPS. The team bumped him up to High-A. New level. Same results. In 15 games, he slashed .371/.466/.790 and a 1.256 OPS. They bumped him again and again he impressed. At Double-A, he slashed .323/.400/.581 and a .981 OPS.
Then the Nationals shocked the entire prospect community by calling up Soto over the weekend. Maybe they were trying to capitalize on the phonetically similar “Han Solo” and sell a few tickets. I’ve got a new nickname for him: The Millennial Falcon.
More likely, the team is just trying to do something—anything—to get their underperforming and over-injured team to get rolling. And, of course, in his first start for the team, he hit a home run and had 3 RBI. With the team’s injury problems, Soto could be up for good. And why not? No matter how many home runs Matt Adams hits, he is not an outfielder. And neither is Mark Reynolds or Ryan Zimmerman.
But Wait There’s More…
The Nationals have one of those odd farm systems where it’s not very deep but the top 3 prospects are monsters. Robles and Soto are both top-5 prospects. And then there’s Carter Kieboom. Great name. And a great bat. He’s also clobbering the ball at a young age and could be up to the big club as soon as next year at shortstop—pushing the speedy Trea Turner to the outfield—or settling in at second base.
Assuming the Nationals don’t fall out of contention by the trade deadline, forcing them to consider trading Harper for a nice haul, it does look like he’ll be departing as a free agent and doing his thing for a different club next season. The way things stand now, Soto could easily be his replacement. Maybe Soto won’t replace the 9-WAR performance from a couple years ago, but that’s not exactly what we’ve been seeing lately from Harper.
Next season, the team could conceivably be running out Turner, Robles, Soto and Kieboom along with their starting pitcher aces. Sounds to me like Nationals fans don’t need to worry themselves over losing Harper.
