NEW YORK — Carlos Rodón threw a fastball up and in against Juan Soto, and yet the superstar hitter still pulled his hands inside the baseball and crushed it 109 mph. For Rodón’s sake two seasons ago when he was the ace of the San Francisco Giants, Soto hit it directly at the right fielder for a loud out. But it was a reminder of how challenging it is to face a hitter of his caliber. No pitch can be wasted against Soto because there’s not a singular pitch anyone can throw that he can’t demolish.
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“Even left-on-left, it’s not a comfortable at-bat,” Rodón said. “There are a few lefties in this game where as a lefty, I almost treat them like a righty because they’re so good left-on-left. Juan Soto is in that category.”
Soto’s otherworldly plate discipline makes the greatest pitchers in the sport sweat. On Tuesday against future first-ballot Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander, Soto went 3-for-3. In his first-at-bat Wednesday against Houston Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, Soto sent a first-pitch fastball 440 feet into Yankee Stadium’s left-field bullpen. In the Statcast tracking era, only 17 home runs have traveled at least 440 feet the opposite way.
“Whenever I’m able to go that way, I just feel like I’m locked in,” Soto said.
Going, going, Juan! pic.twitter.com/VqguRp6jwd
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 8, 2024
One of the biggest goals the New York Yankees had during the offseason was creating more lineup balance. They had the second-fewest left-handed plate appearances last season, and the lefties they had (Willie Calhoun, Franchy Cordero, Billy McKinney, Jake Bauers, to name a few) were mostly replacement-level players. It seems counterintuitive to not have a Yankees lineup that has some left-handed pop considering the short right-field porch and the number of Monument Park plaques of left-handed legends who took advantage of the stadium’s favorable right-field dimensions.
But Soto is different. He doesn’t need the 314 feet down the right field line to inflate his home run total because he can hit them to all fields. Only two of his nine home runs have sailed over the right-field fence at Yankee Stadium. Throw him a pitch on the outside corner, and Soto can rope a ball down the left-field line, like the triple he had in Camden Yards earlier this month that would have been a home run in every other park except Baltimore’s. Opposing pitchers feel like they’re at a loss when he’s in the batter’s box.
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“It makes it tough to attack the zone on a guy like that because pitches in the zone to him seem like they’re barreled or they’re hard hit,” Rodón said. “When you’re pitching against Juan Soto, you’re never really doubling up on pitches to him, whether it’s fastball in or fastball away or you’re going to a slider. It makes it tough on a pitcher because you’re bouncing back and forth between pitches and locations — unless you have elite command and that’s hard to do and that’s how he draws his walks, too. He’s not swinging and expanding the zone. You know as a pitcher that he can cover sliders, he can cover the fastball. It’s a hard at-bat anytime Juan Soto comes up, especially with runners on.”
After finishing with the third-worst wRC+ from lefties last season, the Yankees have the third-highest wRC+ from the left side of the plate. They also have the second-best offense in MLB behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soto has the highest wRC+ out of all hitters in the American League. He’s reached base safely in 34 of 38 games and is hitting .338/.437/.586. He’s hitting a remarkable .448/.514/.828 (13-for-29) with 25 RBIs with runners in scoring position this season.
The Yankees’ offense was a slog last season, mostly because of poor injury luck and underperformance from several starters. The Yankees’ offense this year is electric. That’s partly because they have Soto this year, and last year they did not. Yankees manager Aaron Boone referenced the theatrics of a Soto at-bat and compared it to watching a Broadway show. Aaron Judge has had the best seat in the house watching from the on-deck circle this year.
“I definitely enjoy having a front-row seat right there, watching him do his thing,” Judge said.
Another Juan. @JuanSoto25_ 👊 pic.twitter.com/2lkpHFxprU
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 9, 2024
It’s still early in the season, but it feels like as long as Soto remains healthy, the Yankees should finish with a top-five offense. He has completely transformed a lineup that was uninteresting in 2023 into a must-watch event.
“Literally every pitch is theater,” Boone said. “That’s been fun to witness. Obviously how good he is and how disciplined he is at his craft but just the relentless nature of his at-bats. I’ve heard all my life how this guy never gives an at-bat away. Juan embodies that. He doesn’t give a pitch away. Every pitch, you kind of hold your breath a little bit.”
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The Yankees’ offense isn’t better solely because of Soto, although his presence is a giant reason. They also have seven players above a 100 wRC+. The Yankees only had four players with at least a 100 wRC+ last season, and Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu finished at 100 and 101. The organization also made it a point to add players with diverse skills, and in Anthony Volpe’s case, change their approach.
Verdugo, Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera bring a contact-oriented mindset, and so does Gleyber Torres when he’s rolling. Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Rizzo provide the power. Soto is an all-around hitter who can do a bit of everything.
“I think there’s something to a starting pitcher having to navigate different looks constantly throughout the lineup,” Boone said. “It’s not necessarily just left-right (handedness). You can’t just lock in on a certain profile throughout, and then it’s probably easier to get in a better rhythm that way.”
There’s no question, though, that having Soto at the top of the lineup every day has taken the Yankees from an easy offense to game plan for in years past to a force that has already shown it can produce at an American League-leading pace.
“You’d love to have all Juan Sotos and teach that and bottle it up,” Boone said. “Before Juan got here, that’s who we always have kind of wanted to be as an offense. He certainly embodies that. I do think there’s been at least a subtle movement of the needle because of his presence.”
(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)