Juan Soto has been a frontrunner for MVP throughout his 2024 MLB season with the New York Yankees, and an MLB icon just identified one facet of his game that is reminiscent of one of the greatest sluggers of all time.
Soto is making a strong finish to the current campaign. The Dominican superstar is cutting.304/.429/.589 with a staggering 1.018 OPS to his name. Soto has blasted 30 home runs this season, proving once again that he is one of the top hitters in the league, both in terms of power and average. This high level of play piqued the interest of former Philadelphia Phillies legend Jimmy Rollins, who couldn’t help but compare the seven-year veteran to former San Francisco Giants ace Barry Bonds.
On a recent episode of “The 6-1-1 Podcast,” Rollins revealed that Soto’s ability to limit the number of swings and misses is what most reminds him of Bonds (h/t Sportskeeda’s Raghav Mehta).
“If I could return today as a batter, I believe I would want to be Juan Soto. He does not miss. “He’s the closest thing I’ve seen to Barry Bonds,” Rollins exclaimed.
“He can hit you anywhere. He does not swing and miss. When he swings, he rarely misses. I recall Barry going through a season where he’d go 20 games without swinging and missing, but when he did, his decision appeared to be correct. “I see that in Juan Soto.”
Rollins came from a place of consistency, more than anything. Throughout his 22-year Major League career, Bonds was praised for both his efficiency and his power. The all-time home run leader in Major League Baseball retired with a career batting average of.298. Soto is currently close to that, with a career average of.287.
Bonds was also the most feared batter in baseball for long portions of his career. He led the major leagues in walks 12 times, demonstrating how difficult he was for opposition pitchers to handle with. Soto has previously outperformed his peers in that area in three consecutive seasons from 2021-2023, and he is three walks shy of the league lead this season. This parallel screams Bonds. It also demonstrates that Soto is respected when he steps up to bat.
It’s one thing to routinely get walks. It’s one thing to maintain that reputation for connectedness on pitches, and another to turn that into wins. Soto’s stuff resembles something out of a video game. The 6-2, 224-pound prospect scores in the 99th percentile or higher in the majority of his batting peripherals, including chase percentage (17.8 percent). The four-time Silver Slugger Award winner also has a 15.5 percent strikeout rate, which ranks him in the 84th percentile, and strikes out only 21.8 percent of the time. Thus, Soto is disciplined against a range of pitches and knows what to swing at the majority of the time.
Furthermore, the past 2019 World Series Champion has excelled in the wins above replacement category throughout his career. He topped the National League with 7.1 WAR in 2021, and his 6.9 WAR this year is not far behind the American League leaders. Bonds won that category 11 times during his professional career. Soto may have some work to do to match that incredible total, but he’s had an impact on every club he’s been on, and his bat could help him win another World Series this fall.
Overall, Soto is as efficient as Uber. He is frighteningly powerful. The Yankees’ prized outfielder may not have 73 home runs in his future (or perhaps he does), as Bonds did in 2001, but his track record supports Rollins’ assessment. He produces at the plate, and when he swings his bat, he hits enough baseballs to be considered alongside the best of all time.
