WASHINGTON — Almost everywhere Juan Soto goes these days, questions arise about his future.
But when he returned to his past Monday — to the place where he made his big-league debut in 2018, won a World Series in 2019, became one of the game’s best players and ultimately turned down a massive extension offer — Soto was in the midst of the best season of his career, all in his contract year and at age 25.
And while the questions persisted Monday as Soto returned to Nationals Park for a third time as a visitor, this time as a Yankees player and just months away from free agency, the “generational” talent stuck to his familiar script.
“At the end of the day, I’m playing for the Yankees right now,” Soto said in the locker room before the Yankees and Nationals opened the series. “I’m happy where I am. We’ll see what happens in the free agency market.”
A day after the Yankee Stadium crowd reminded Soto that they wanted him to stay — which Soto said after the game, “They need to talk to [general manager Brian] “Cashman” – The fans at Nationals Park gave him a standing ovation when he came to the plate for his first strike.
Sotto took off his helmet and saluted the crowd, which later chanted low chants of “Go home Sotto,” even though the crowd was very large at 32,812.
It remains to be seen whether the Nationals will eventually become a serious contender for Soto’s services, though they did offer him a 15-year, $440 million extension through 2022 that he turned down before being traded to the Padres.
They have a core group of young prospects — including promising talent Dylan Cruz who will make his MLB debut on Monday — and appear to have plenty of room to spend if ownership has the desire.
Currently, Soto is back in the nation’s capital in the middle of a year of his career.
Although he was somewhat overshadowed by another historic season from Aaron Judge, Soto has reaped the benefits of hitting against a likely American League MVP candidate, entering Monday with a .299 batting average, a 1.034 OPS and a career-high 37 home runs.
Soto’s 7.8 fWAR was the highest of any season in his career — his most dominant year came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season — and trailed only Judge and Bobby Witt Jr.
“In many ways, he’s probably still at the beginning of what he wants to be as a player, which is scary considering the success he’s already had,” said his coach, Aaron Boone. “But I think we can see clearly now that he’s still young and he’s just entering his peak fitness, but he’s also now reaping the benefits of being a seasoned player in the league for a while.”
What makes Soto’s season even more impressive is the fact that it came on the year his contract was up, which can be a drag on some players. But Soto wasn’t.
“Again, he’s 25 years old and that’s not a distraction for him,” Boone said. “I felt right away that this guy’s priorities are where they need to be. They’re focused on being the best player they can be and they want to win. He’s shown us that since the beginning of spring training. He’s really connected with his teammates. For him, it’s about winning baseball games every day. He knows he’s an integral part of that and he needs to be an integral part of that. He’s dealing with the things he needs to on a daily basis.”
Soto, who spent much of the pregame time hosting his former coaches, staff members and teammates, is loved here in part because he helped the Nationals win the World Series in 2019.
The right-back was asked about the similarities between this team and the one he currently plays for as he chases another title.
“I would say the positive energy and atmosphere we have here won’t be like what we had at the Nationals in 2019, but it’s definitely close to what we had back then,” Soto said. “We all get along really well, we play hard, we come here and everybody wants that at the end of the day. That’s what matters. Nothing else matters. It’s not about the money or anything else. We come here to play baseball and win games.”
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