Washington Nationals: Don’t Look Now But Juan Soto Is Heating Up

Apologies to opposing pitchers, but they were never going to be able to hold Juan Soto down forever.

Rocking a personalized diamond necklace of himself doing his patented shuffle, Juan Soto reminded both the Braves and the rest of the League he is still one of the best players in the game. After grounding out in his first at-bat to start the game Saturday evening, the Nationals star drove a curveball that was just off the plate in the third inning to the opposite field for his second homer in as many games.

In an eventual 4-3 loss, Soto finished 2-4, with a walk — raising his season average to .242. He followed this up by going 1-3, with a run scored and two walks in another loss Sunday. Despite the Nationals losing nine of their last 10, Soto is on a 13-game hit streak and 20-game on-base streak.

On June 24, he was slashing a measly .214/.363/.433, with 14 homers, 31 RBIs, and an OPS of .796. Now? He’s slashing .243/.398/.473, with 17 homers, 37 RBIs, and an OPS of .870. Over his last 14 games, Soto has been channeling his inner Barry Bonds — slashing an absurd .425/.589/.725, with an OPS of 1.314.

What’s been behind his resurgence? Well for starters, he hasn’t been expanding at the plate lately. A year after only swinging at pitches out of the strike zone 15.1% of the time, that number has risen to 21.6% — ahead of his career average of 20.5%. This season Soto has been seeing a career-low 37.1% of pitches thrown inside the strike zone.

With barely anything to hit, Soto had become impatient at times leading to him making less hard contact (career-low 27.7%)  and more soft contact (career-high 23.1%). While he’s still making soft contact, he’s hitting more line drives and finally going oppo.

Throughout his career, Soto has already been at his best when he can consistently go to the opposite side of the field. On the season, he’s gone oppo 26.5% of the time — which is slightly above his career average (26.2%). Yet over his last 14 games, he’s hitting oppo 30.3% of the time — consequently leading to his torrid stretch. Unsurprisingly, his most recent homer was crushed over the leftfield wall.

“That shows you that’s my favorite part of the field to hit the ball”, Soto told reporters after Saturday’s game. “I’ve always said this since Day One — I tell everybody I love to hit the ball that way and see how the ball fades that way and everything. It’s one of the most beautiful things, I think, in baseball.”

Now that Soto is once again competing in the Home Run Derby, it’s safe to hope that he can once again use the event to jumpstart his season and launch him back into the MVP race.