Juan Soto's Surprising First Move as a Yankee
In February, Juan Soto got in a car and started driving east. He left his home in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, on a coastal highway lined with palm trees. About an hour later, he arrived in Boca Chica. The jungles had been cleared to make way for a baseball field, and a huge building sprouted up with a familiar logo, welcoming visitors to the Dominican home of “Los Yankees de Nueva York.”
Two months earlier, Juan Soto had been traded from the San Diego Padres to the Yankees. Soto finds himself at a curious moment in his career: he is only 25 and has already won four Silver Sluggers and made three All-Star teams. He has a World Series championship and is widely regarded as one of best players in baseball. Yet for all that success, the Yankees will be Soto’s third team in the past two years. He’s a free agent after this season, so that number could tick even higher—unless, of course, he finds a home in the Bronx with the Yankees, a team known to take budding stars like Soto and turn them into supernovas. As the front page of ESPN.com declared on Opening Day, “Has Juan Soto finally found a home with the New York Yankees?”
Maybe. The trip to the Yankees academy in Boca Chica was a first step—and a reminder of how this journey began, not too long ago.
As a kid, Soto grew up in Santo Domingo worshipping Dominican big leaguers, players like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Robinson Cano. When he was only 16, he got one step closer to that goal, signing a contract with the Washington Nationals. He soon reported to the Nationals academy, also in Boca Chica, less than a mile from the Yankees.
The Dominican has become one of the great breeding grounds for baseball talent in the world; last season, 11% of all MLB players hailed from the country that’s only slightly larger than Maryland. “There is something here that occurs from the moment a child is born,” Jorge Torres, the technical director of the Dominican Republic Baseball League told PBS last year. “And it is that the father says, ‘A baseball player was born.’”
Big league clubs have been quick to capitalize on the wealth of talent. All 30 teams have built academies to nurture young talent, and another 28 independent academies have a relationship with the MLB. Players eat and sleep baseball; as young as 13, they organize their days like professional ballplayers: lifting, taking batting practice, running fielding drills, and then doing it all again.
Soto went through the system too. But one thing he didn’t notice was the presence of Big Leaguers. With the Nationals, pictures of Dominican players who had made it were everywhere at the academy. But he never heard from the players himself. If only he could ask them a few questions.
And so, as his first official act as a New York Yankee, Soto went back to Boca Chica. For over an hour, he stood in front of the Yankees academy players and answered every question they fired his way. “Welcome to professional baseball,” he told them. “At the end of the day…it’s the first step of a dream.”
“I was once in the spot they were in,” Soto said afterwards. “I always looked up to other players to see how big they were. I wanted to be like them. I want to give back and let them see me and let them know I’m here to talk with them. I want to give them that little hope that they need. If I did it, they could do it, too. They can make it to the big leagues. It’s not impossible.”
Soto had organized the meeting with Joel Lithgow, the Yankees’ longtime Dominican Academy director. “That was one of the best days we’ve ever had here,” said Lithgow. “He really impacted all of us.”
Soto talked about the game on a general level—consistency is key—and on a more granular basis. Long known for his adept understanding of the strike zone, he gave specific advice on how to spot balls and strikes. “He’s a good man and a good dude,” said Francisco Vilorio, a 17-year-old outfielder rated as the Yankees’ No. 15 prospect. “One thing that stuck with me when he spoke with the group is when he talked about his routine and how it doesn’t matter how bad of a day he has or if he’s going through a slump, his routine doesn’t change.”
Yesterday, Soto played his first regular season game for the Yankees. Thousands of miles away, in Boca Chica, the next generation watched, cheering him on, knowing that one day, they might be just like him.
🥁 One fun subplot of March Madness is that for teams who don’t have a marching band, local college and high school bands fill in. That happened last week, when the University of Idaho’s marching band suddenly found itself representing, of all schools, Yale, and a local high school found itself representing Cinderella story Duquesne.
🥐 In Paris last week, waiters raced through the streets holding treys loaded with a croissant, a glass of water, and a small cup of coffee. The course was a little over a mile long, and the rules were strict: no running, no knocking over your tray. This absolutely needs to be an Olympic sport this summer.
🏒 Here’s a fun one, detailing the high fashion of the NHL. For Curbed’s “Look Book” feature, Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell went to Madison Square Garden for a New York Rangers game to ask fans about why the team matters to them—and what they’re wearing.
🇯🇵 For the first time in 110 years, a rookie has won Sumo wrestling’s top prize. Over at The Japan Times comes the story of Takerufuji, the sumo sensation who has shaken up the sport. Before the final match, Takerufuji was taken backstage due to a severe ankle injury, before coming back to wrestle. "I did it through sheer force of will,” Takerujuji said. “I didn't really know what was happening.”
🥃 Everybody knows the Dodgers’ $1 billion spending spree this offseason. But did you know that, believe it or not, the story also involves country star Brad Paisley, glasses of the elusive bourbon Pappy Van Winkle, and Kevin from The Office?
⛵ At 5-foot-2, Cole Brauer might not look like much. But a few weeks ago, the 29-year-old New Yorker became the first American woman to successfully race solo around the world.
ncG1vNJzZmiqlaG2qLXOp6afq6Ckv7W%2Fjaysm6uklrCsesKopGioX5%2FCorqMrKatp6NiwLa%2Bz6ugrKGenHqntdGsq2aln6uy