When you think all time greats in the game of baseball you think of names like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and for better or worse Barry Bonds.
Well, Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto can now say he is a member of a list with just those three other names.
When you’re on the same list as Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig you are doing something right pic.twitter.com/GpOA6eLFjw
— Kev (@OnePursuitTakes) October 2, 2021
As you can see, Soto is getting on base at a rate the game hasn’t seen in quite some time. With his unreal sense of the strike zone, he has walked 144 times this season at the time of posting. Only Bonds has drawn that many free passes in a season in the 21st century and Soto is the first to record that many walks before the age of 23 since Ted Williams did so in 1941.
In a recent stretch, Soto reached base in twelve consecutive plate appearances which left him five shy of Piggy Ward’s all-time record from 1893 and four shy of Williams’ modern record set in 1957.
Since September 3rd, Juan Soto has seen 92 fastballs outside of the strike zone and he has swung at ZERO OF THEM.
He’s made it almost 100 plate appearances without whiffing at a fastball. Absolutely absurd pic.twitter.com/js3sfbfMlq
— Will🗿 (@WillPilled) September 24, 2021
Soto has been on an absolute tear in the second half of this MLB season, thrusting himself into the conversation for National League MVP even though the Nationals as a team gave up on this season in late July. In September alone, Soto had a combined 73 hits and walks which is the most a player has had in a single month since 1960.
The 22-year-old also set an Expos/Nationals franchise record this season when he recorded his 131st walk, topping the mark Bryce Harper set in 2018. At one point last week, Soto could have made an out in 45 straight plate appearances and still led the entire league in on-base percentage.
For the first time in Spotrac history, our market valuation tool calculated a player to earn more than $500M on his next contract.
22-year-old #Nationals OF Juan Soto currently projects to a 15 year, $503M extension.https://t.co/GJHS3ItWsD
— Spotrac (@spotrac) September 24, 2021
Soto is currently slashing an absurd .317/.470/.541, with 29 home runs, 94 runs driven in, and leads all MLB hitters with a 6.7 fWAR (Fangraphs’ calculation of wins above replacement).
Headline photo: Ian Oland
