Juan Soto Stats: Adapting to San Diego’s Struggles

Soto Struggling At the Plate After Strong Showing in May for Padres

Juan Soto wasted little time making his presence felt in the majors. When looking at Juan Soto’s stats, in a three-year span, he led the National League in walks twice, was the 2020 National League batting champion with a .351 average and led the league in on-base percentage in back-to-back seasons.

Soto accomplished all of this before turning 24. According to the Baseball Reference database, his numbers at this point most closely resemble Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as well as current MLB stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper at the same age.

Things unraveled a bit for Soto during the 2022 season when he hit just .246 in 101 games with the Washington Nationals and .236 with the San Diego Padres.

Here’s a look at how things are going for Soto in his first full season with the Padres.

Doubling His Pleasure

Soto’s .256 average brings his total of .248 in 124 games with the Padres. That is well off the .291 mark he registered in the five seasons with the Nationals.

However, at the pace he is going, Soto could set career-highs in doubles and walks and those are the most impressive of the current Juan Soto stats.

Soto has 17 doubles in 72 games and he could top the mark of 32 he established in 2019, his first full MLB season with the Nationals.

Soto leads the majors with 65 walks, 12 more than any other player. At that rate, he would finish with 146 walks and his best career total was 145 set in 2021.

Lofty Expectations

Coming into the season. Soto had the best odds of +550 to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award. Those MLB odds have moved to +2000.

It is a similar story for the Padres. San Diego was tied with the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves for the third-best odds of +850 to win the World Series. Those odds are now at +1800 and that is still third among National League teams.

The Padres came in at +110 to win the National League West Division title.

When looking at the MLB results, the Padres are currently in fourth place in the division. Most surprisingly, those odds have moved to +800. The Padres are just 35-37 (19-20 at home) and are four games out of the final wild-card spot in the National League.

Let’s Look At the Splits

Soto is still getting used to playing at Petco Park as the current Juan Soto stats show that he is hitting .278 on the road and just .237 at home. His on-base percentage is also better on the road, although thanks to 38 walks, he is also over .400 at home.

Soto entered May batting just .202. He turned things around with a .333 average in May with 16 extra-base hits. He is back to struggling again as he is batting just .233 so far in June.

Soto has done his best work on the first pitch with a .444 average and a .778 slugging percentage.

Soto is batting just .179 when he faces a 1-2 count and puts up a .140 mark on a 2-2 count.

Seven of his home runs have come when he has hit third in the order. He has a .231 average with runners in scoring position with 10 of his 13 home runs coming with the bases empty. Soto hit .342 over the final 30 days of the 2020 season when he won the batting title so the Padres are hoping to see a similar trend play out this year.

In his lone experience in the MLB World Series, Soto was 5-for-13 with two home runs in the final three games of the series as the Nationals won Games 6 and 7 against the Houston Astros to win the World Series.

Paying a Hefty Price

The Padres gave up quite a bit to acquire Soto in 2022.

Former first-round picks C.J. Abrams and MacKenzie Gore headlined the haul for the Nationals.

Abrams, a shortstop, is hitting .221 with 26 runs, 11 doubles, six home runs, 31 RBIs and seven stolen bases. Abrams is just 7-for-44 in June.

Gore was 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA in his first five starts of the season. Since then he is 0-4 with a 4.15 ERA.

Outfielder Robert Hassell was rated as the No. 35 prospect coming into the 2023 season according to Baseball America. He is hitting .222 with 31 runs scored and 37 walks in 53 games. Pitcher Jarlin Susana is 0-3 with a 3.28 ERA in 10 starts this season at Class A Fredericksburg.

Outfielder James Wood, the No. 11-rated prospect according to Baseball America, has a .277 average with 40 runs, eight stolen bases, 14 doubles, six triples and 12 home runs with two teams this season in the minors.

The other piece of the trade for the Nationals was Luke Voit. He hit .228 in 53 games with the Nationals in 2022. He started this season with Milwaukee and is now playing with the top minor league affiliate of the New York Mets.

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