The latest chapter of the Juan Soto story has begun: the 26-year-old agreed to the biggest contract in baseball history on Sunday night, a 15-year deal with the New York Mets worth $765 million.
Here at The Athletic, we’ve been chronicling Soto’s journey since the start. Here is a collection of stories that tell the young phenom’s story (so far).
The debut season
Let’s start at the beginning: Soto took MLB by surprise when he debuted in 2018 at 19 years old. That August, three months into Soto’s MLB career, Eno Sarris set out to explain how Soto managed to catch pretty much everyone off guard.
Road to a championship
Ahead of the 2019 season, Soto was drawing comparisons to Mike Trout. That year famously did not start well for the Washington Nationals. But the second half? The second half was as good as it gets, and Soto was in the middle of all of it.
Friends evaluating friends
This is a fun back-and-forth between Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr. from 2020. At the time, they were a young, dynamic duo in the National League East, and became friends after debuting within a month of each other.
From Washington to San Diego
Let’s skip over the rest of 2020, shall we? On to 2021, when one scout said the Nationals “couldn’t afford not to” extend his contract. He finished second in NL MVP voting. They did not extend him. In June 2022, the Nationals said they wouldn’t trade him. Then he turned down the famous 15-year, $440 million offer and the Nationals did an about-face, saying they would entertain trade offers weeks before the deadline. Off he went to the San Diego Padres, who made the playoffs that year, eventually losing to the Philadelphia Phillies. Maria Torres wrote about a conversation she had with Juan Soto’s father (and namesake), who told her about the lessons he tried to instill in his kids.
From San Diego to New York
His 2023 season with the Padres was rocky, and he was traded to the New York Yankees during the offseason. Britt Ghiroli took stock of Soto’s career in the leadup to his debut for New York in March. He looks back at being traded from the Nationals to the Padres, a move he never thought would happen (he cried when he heard the news).
Soto the Yankee
While in New York, we wrote about how he grew up hitting everything from bottle caps to crumpled paper balls to eventually rocks (Juan Soto has always loved to hit) and the flip side, how he’s long been criticized for his outfield defense. Here, Brendan Kuty outlines the steps he took to improve in that area.
His time with the Yankees ended in a Game 5 World Series defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers. What will come next in the Soto story as moves from the Bronx to Queens? We’ll soon find out.
(Photo: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
