Juan Soto 2022 Player Outlook: As Safe As They Come Near The Top
3 years agoWashington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto had one of the best offensive seasons in recent years, batting .313 with 29 HRs, 9 SBs, 95 RBI, and 111 runs across 151 games. Every metric backs up his performance, posting 94th-percentile HardHit% and max exit velocity, 84th-percentile Barrel%, as well as a .299 xBA. The 23-year-old also owned an incredible 1.56 BB/K, the best in baseball by a wide margin. There isn't a question of where his floor is — he's slugged at least .517 in every season and has a career .301 batting average. He's as safe as players have come at the top of the draft board in recent years, combining a high-BA, all-fields power, moderate-speed profile that is rare in the game today. While Soto has 98 HRs in 464 career games, be mindful of his 5.6- and 4.3-degree launch angles in 2021 and 2020, respectively. If he can get back to his 12.5 mark of 2019, it wouldn't be unrealistic to see close to 40 round-trippers rather than the 30 mark he flirted with last year. Soto showed this power in the second half of last year, in which he slashed .348/.525/.639, with 18 HRs. He has a high groundball rate of 50%, but made up for that with a 24.4% HR/FB rate last year, which is also his career average, so the groundball tendencies aren't too much of a concern. He's a super-safe pick at his current ADP of three overall, even if his upside isn't as high as Trea Turner or Fernando Tatis Jr.