Juan Soto celebrates in the Yankees' dugout after hitting his first home run for the team in Spring Training. Photo by Charles Wenzelberg via The New York Post
Juan Soto kicked off his Yankees debut with a bang.
After a scare during his first at-bat where he appeared to twist his ankle swinging, Soto rebounded in his second at-bat. That is when he launched a three-run mammoth home run, hitting the outfield scoreboard. This dinger gave the Yankees a 7-1 lead over the Toronto Blue Jays at that point.
Soto’s Oppo-Taco
Soto jogged to first base after the initial ankle twist, which gave some fans a scare. However, he was fine, and proved that with the succeeding homer. The home run was an opposite-field, 428-foot blast that hit off the lower portion of the scoreboard at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. The home run had an exit velocity of 110.1 miles per hour.
“He’s a New York Yankee,” captain Aaron Judge said of Soto. “His first year here, I want to make it a good one. I want this to be his best year. If he’s feeling right and he’s doing his thing, that’s only going to take us one step closer to a World Series. So whatever I can do to get Juan feeling like Juan, I’m gonna try to do it.”
New Bronx Bomber
The 25-year-old lefty phenom was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Yankees this past offseason. He compliments Aaron Judge by serving as the first half of a lethal one-two punch atop the Yankees’ lineup. The plan is to hit Soto and Judge back-to-back, instilling fear in opposing pitchers.
“Dugie [Alex Verdugo], DJ [LeMahieu], Soto, whoever’s hitting in front of me, those guys put the ball in play and they get on,” Judge said during the game on Sunday. “They get in scoring position. It makes my job easy. Especially Soto, a guy that’s going to walk. He’s going to hit balls off the scoreboard. He’s just going to make it tough. When you just stack up good at-bat after good at-bat after good at-bat like that, you wear down the starting pitchers. You wear down guys in the bullpen. So we’re all pretty excited about that.”
“You want to get that feeling of the Yankee fans,” Soto said. “You always hear about them; you get to a point where you’ll be like, ‘OK, I want to feel about them. I want to see how it’s going to feel to have them on my back cheering for me instead of booing me.’ So I think it’s been pretty good.”
Juan Soto will be a free agent after this season, so the Yankees will have to make the most of his time with them. They could re-sign him after the season, but at that point, he will hit the market when 29 other teams will be able to bid on him. He is expected to sign a contract north of 12 years and $500 million. As a Scott Boras client, it appears he is not open to signing an extension, though Soto himself has not ruled anything out.
What’s Next?
The Yankees’ will play Spring Training games until the end of March. They will then open the season on March 29 in Houston, with a four-game series against the rival Astros. The Bronx Bombers will then head to Arizona for three games before their Home Opener on April 5.
