From Henry Palattella
When Juan Soto joined the Yankees in the offseason and moved to the American League, it brought a lot of change.
New city. New ballpark. New teammates. And it guaranteed he would make his first trip to Progressive Field.
After going 0-for-4 with a walk in the opening game of a doubleheader Saturday, Soto added another accomplishment to his MLB résumé with a three-run home run in the second game, which propelled the Yankees to an 8-2 victory and a doubleheader sweep.
The Yankees won the first game, 3-2.
Soto has now played in all 30 active MLB stadiums and homered in 26 of them. (He also homered for the Padres in Mexico City in 2023.)
“He’s great,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s a great, great player. So any time you throw things like that out there at a very young age it’s not surprising. I’m sure it won’t be long until it’s 30 out of 30.”
His home run on Saturday was a classic Soto blast, as it went 408 feet to center field off Triston McKenzie to extend the Yankees’ lead to 6-0. He added two walks, for good measure.
When’s the last time a big trade acquisition has assimilated THIS well for the Yankees? Curtis Granderson, I guess? And Soto is obviously a lot better than Curtis Granderson (who was an All-Star, so that’s saying a lot). It’s kind of nuts just how good Soto is. The dude is hitting .3-fucking-65!!
And don’t look now, but almost the entire Yankee lineup looks…pretty darn okay. Rizzo’s doubleheader performance raised his batting average all the way to .281. Volpe looks exactly what we all THOUGHT he would be last year based on the hype (and if he hits even close to this all year long then it makes the decision to not pursue a big money shortstop make a lot more sense). Judge is a major disappointment, and he’s OPSing in the high 700s!!
So…yeah…a lot to like. They probably need at least one big bullpen arm, and, of course, they need for Gerrit Cole to be healthy, but overall, the vibes are pretty darn good right now. Five straight series wins to open the season is very impressive.
ichiro, justice, fielder, leyritz, brosius, boggs
swisher
Cabrera in, unsurprisingly
One more hit last night and I bet he wouldn’t be.
yep
I was real believer in Cabrera after his debut and though he didn’t look good last year, he’s young and athletic and I think if they just trust him out there he’s gonna be a valuable player. Not a star, but a good everyday guy.
I pegged him to have a breakout year last year.
That pitcher didn’t even flinch after getting hit by Volpe’s line drivel
I know it was a typo but I like “line drivel”
3 errors in 16 games seems bad, is that bad?
Whole team now has 15 in 16 games. That’s second in MLB, behind the Townies who have 16.
Oakland also has 16, which leads the PCL.
Going to be a shame when it costs Nestor a perfect game
Would Soto agree to move to 1B in a contract year?
Definitely on Nestor
Bout time Judge contributedl
A tantalizing glimpse of what Volpe-Soto-Judge can be. Lineup as a whole not fully operational, but maybe DH could bat for the catchers, and try the pitchers’ luck at the plate. (Pretty sure that’s not allowed, but I bet opponents would agree to it.)
It’s not, unfortunately
Lots of 1-2 and 0-2 counts.
I’ll keep saying it – he’s gonna be nasty.