Neftali Soto hits HR in first spring training game

[Vottomatic]

Dude should make the starting lineup. He's a beast.

All joking aside, I'm excited about this kid's future.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore...?gid=320303117

[redsmetz]

Dude should make the starting lineup. He's a beast.

All joking aside, I'm excited about this kid's future.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore...?gid=320303117

Might you be changing your name to Sotomatic same day?

[Vottomatic]

If the situation warrants it. Hehehe.

[cincrazy]

I like his raw potential. But I don't look at him that much differently than I look at Francisco. The guy needs to learn how to take a walk before I ever take him too seriously as a ML hitter.

[RedlegJake]

I don't know about that Cincrazy - he's a bit different hitter than Francisco - doesn't strike out at nearly the same rate as Francisco so he might survive a bit lower walk rate because he'll contact the ball more often - he doesn't walk but he is hitting the ball. Francisco doesn't walk but he is striking out a lot of those times he should be taking pitches. That's the difference I see between them. Soto doesn't walk much but he doesn't let many strikes past him either.

[757690]

Dude should make the starting lineup. He's a beast.

All joking aside, I'm excited about this kid's future.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore...?gid=320303117

Not to be Debby Downer, but Valdez and Janish hit rockets off tne same pitcher that inning that would have been homers if they had any power.

Still was impressive, and I'm excited about Soto's future, but spring training AB's need to be taken with a grain of salt.

[Vottomatic]

Not to be Debby Downer, but Valdez and Janish hit rockets off tne same pitcher that inning that would have been homers if they had any power.

Still was impressive, and I'm excited about Soto's future, but spring training AB's need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Oh, I know it's simply ST.

But I learned this Winter that Soto hit 30 HR's in the minors last season, and that was including taking a month off for a broken wrist, and returning to add more HR's to his total. That alone simply made me take notice.

[dougdirt]

I don't know about that Cincrazy - he's a bit different hitter than Francisco - doesn't strike out at nearly the same rate as Francisco so he might survive a bit lower walk rate because he'll contact the ball more often - he doesn't walk but he is hitting the ball. Francisco doesn't walk but he is striking out a lot of those times he should be taking pitches. That's the difference I see between them. Soto doesn't walk much but he doesn't let many strikes past him either.

Soto certainly has a better contact rate than Francisco does.... but there is still a lot of work to be done. Guys with his K/BB rate in the Majors still fail to put together successful careers. He must improve it by either adding more walks or cutting down the strikeouts even more.

[Caveat Emperor]

Soto certainly has a better contact rate than Francisco does.... but there is still a lot of work to be done. Guys with his K/BB rate in the Majors still fail to put together successful careers. He must improve it by either adding more walks or cutting down the strikeouts even more.

We say "needs to learn to take a walk" about a lot of players -- I feel like the majority of them rarely do.

[dougdirt]

We say "needs to learn to take a walk" about a lot of players -- I feel like the majority of them rarely do.

Historically speaking, they don't. Many studies have shown that. I have some faith that Soto can figure it out enough to be a starter, though I doubt he is ever a 60+ walk type of guy.