Juan Soto

Soto became the youngest major league player since Ken Griffey Jr.. in 1989 to be intentionally walked in a game when Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter elected to do so rather than give him an opportunity to drive in a run on May 29.

Juan José Soto Pacheco (born October 25, 1998) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres.

He became the youngest player in franchise history to hit a home run and the first teenager to homer in a major-league game since Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper did it at age 19 in 2012.

"He's a special player," Harper said of Soto after the game.

Soto signed with the Nationals as an international free agent in 2015.

Soto signed with the Washington Nationals as an international free agent for a $1.5 million signing bonus in July 2015.

He made his professional debut in 2016 with the Gulf Coast League Nationals in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL) and was named the GCL's most valuable player after hitting .368 with five home runs and 32 runs batted in (RBIs).

In September 2016 he was promoted to the Auburn Doubledays of the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League for the final few games of the 2016 season.

Appearing in six games for the Doubledays, he went 9-for-21 (.429) with three doubles and an RBI.

He finished the 2016 season with an overall batting average of .368, five home runs, and 32 RBIs.

Promoted to play with the Hagerstown Suns of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2017, Soto got off to a hot start before injuring his ankle while sliding into home in a game on May 2 and landing on the disabled list.

At the time of his injury, he was batting .360 with three home runs in 23 games with the Suns.

In July 2017, MLB Pipeline ranked Soto the Nationals' second-best prospect and the 42nd-best among all prospects.

Soto did not return to the Suns in 2017, but he had two rehabilitation stints with the Gulf Coast Nationals, one of five games in July 2017 and a second one of four games in September 2017 before injuring his hamstring and finally being shut down for the season.

In those nine games with the Gulf Coast League Nationals, he went 8-for-25 (.320) with a double, a triple, and four RBIs, and finished the 2017 season with a batting average of .351, three home runs, and 18 RBIs.

He made his MLB debut in 2018 and was the runner-up for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Soto entered 2018 as one of the minor leagues' top prospects.

He started the season with the Hagerstown Suns, hitting .373 in 16 games with five home runs and 24 RBIs, before being promoted early in the season to the Potomac Nationals in the Class A-Advanced Carolina League.

After 15 games with Potomac, in which he hit .371 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs, he was promoted to play with the Harrisburg Senators in the Class AA Eastern League.

He had appeared in eight games for the Senators, going 10-for-31 (.323) with two doubles, two home runs, and 10 RBIs, when on May 20, 2018, the Washington Nationals called him up to the major leagues for the first time to reinforce their outfield after an injury to second baseman and outfielder Howie Kendrick.

Soto made his major-league debut on May 20, 2018, becoming the youngest player in the major leagues at 19 years, 207 days, and the first player born in 1998 to appear in a major-league game.

He came on as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., and struck out swinging against right-handed relief pitcher Erik Goeddel.

Soto made his first major-league start the next day, playing left field in a game against the San Diego Padres at Nationals Park, and on the first pitch of his first plate appearance of the game, got his first major-league hit, a 422 ft opposite-field three-run homer off of Robbie Erlin.

After rounding the bases and returning to the dugout, Soto stepped back out for a curtain call from the crowd.

In June 2018, shortly after Soto was called up to the major leagues, Baseball America listed him as the Nationals' top prospect, overtaking fellow outfielder Víctor Robles, and the fourth-best overall prospect in baseball.

Soto contributed to a notable oddity when he hit a home run against the New York Yankees on June 18, 2018.

The contest began on May 15, 2018, five days before Soto made his major league debut, but was suspended until June 18 due to inclement weather with the score at 3–3.

Since the stoppage occurred in the fifth inning, a team would have been awarded the win if they were ahead, which implied that he had technically hit a home run before his MLB debut.

To prevent confusion, it was added in sequence to his already accrued home run total as his sixth home run.

It was also one of three home runs Soto hit in his first five plate appearances against the Yankees.

On June 21, he started as the cleanup hitter for the first time in the major leagues, against the Baltimore Orioles.

He doubled home the winning run in a 4–2 victory.

In 2019, he played a key part in the Nationals' first World Series championship, earning him the Babe Ruth Award.

In 2020, he won the National League batting title with a .351 average.

Soto has won the Silver Slugger Award four times and is a three-time All-Star.

Soto was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to Juan Soto, Sr. and Belkis Pacheco.

He has an older sister and younger brother.

His younger brother, Elian, is a third baseman and outfielder who signed with the Nationals organization as an international free agent once he became eligible in January 2023.

His father, a salesman, was a catcher in a local men's league and encouraged his son to make baseball his passion.