Weekly Statistical Spotlight: Juan Soto

It is hard to believe that it took until May for Juan Soto to be featured in this column. Well it has finally come, and what a week it was for Juan Soto. Soto went deep three times and drove in six RBIs. He’s been consistently finding his stroke which is a great sign for the Mets. Soto slashed .227 / .308 / .539  with an OPS of .846 from May 6 to May 12, with the first half of the week seeing most of the production. Below is a breakdown of Soto’s approach at the plate for last week’s games. 

Soto has been turning on the faster pitchers, and has been absolutely demolishing them. His three home runs traveled a distance of 434, 427, and 380 feet. Additionally, these home runs came off the bat with some serious smoke. They had an exit velocity of 110.5, 110.9, and 105.7 respectively. Another key component to Soto’s success has been his contact launch angle. The optimal launch angle is between 25 and 30 degrees. Soto’s launch angle on his home runs was 29, 33, and 24 degrees. The combination of his increased exit velocity with an optimal launch angle can explain why Soto has a .941 OPS over his last 14 days.

As for his outs, there is still a lot of good coming out of Soto’s out. Soto had nine field outs over the course of last week. What’s promising about his field outs is that he is making good contact on these pitches. According to The Athletic’s Tim Britton, Soto has managed to decrease his ground ball rate from 55% to 40% over the last two weeks. Looking deeper at his field outs, three of his nine field outs were fly balls that traveled a distance of 329, 333, and 373 feet. The exit velocities on these three fly balls were 106.5, 110.2, and 101. He just swung a bit over these pitches as their launch angles were only 17, 15 and 24 degrees. So while he is still making an out, he’s seeing the ball well. He’s making good contact on the ball, having high exit velocities, as well as driving the ball deep.

It is great to see Soto starting to turn it on. He’s been making good contact with pitches, even when he is making an out. He is starting to find his form as that fearsome hitter he has been for the entirety of his career. That’s fun for Mets fans. Soto will live up to his $765 million price tag. As the season is about to enter the summer months, exciting times are ahead for Juan Soto and the Mets.   

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