Juan Soto Interviews With MLB’s YouTube Channel

Juan Soto sat down for MLB’s Office Hours and discussed a variety of topics including his view on the automatic balls and strikes system, his time growing up in the Dominican Republic with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr., and what it is like seeing the Mets’ top prospects make their debuts.

The “ABS” System

Starting with the 2026 season Major League Baseball will be implementing their automatic balls and strikes system (ABS) through the challenge system. The ABS Challenge System gives each team two challenges per game, with the challenge being retained if successful or lost if not successful. Challenges can only be initiated by the pitcher, catcher, or batter by tapping their cap or helmet immediately after a call. The pitch’s exact location is instantly displayed videoboards and broadcasts and the call is either confirmed or overturned.

Juan Soto said he thinks the system is interesting and that it will also be tricky. Soto is known for his plate discipline and eye and said, “now it’s going to be put on a test to see how good I am with my eyes. And I think it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be interesting.”

Mets Prospects

Soto was asked about how he feels being a veteran in the league at 27 years old, especially in a Mets organization has a lot of great young players and prospects debuting. “For me, I always try to tell everybody I’m a rookie for life. I am always going to feel like a rookie. I am always going to treat myself like a rookie around everybody. Whenever they need me to be there and help them with any questions or anything they have, I will be right there. But definitely I am going to make them feel that we are equal. Everybody is equal in there. And it’s no difference. Nobody is bigger than another. We’re all the same. We’re all brothers. We’re all playing for the same reason.”

Juan described his excitement in watching young pitchers in Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat come up at the end of the 2025 season.

“I’m really excited for those guys. They are definitely top 10 in the league. I mean, their stuff is just unbelievable. What they’ve been showing is that they can be a really good ace in the near future, you know, and I’m really excited about it. And those kids are really humble kids that want to learn and they come to the field hungry every day to keep learning.”

Life In The Dominican Republic

Juan also described how exciting it was growing up in the Dominican Republic with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. He described baseball as bringing the entire island together and how he first met Vlad and Tatis at tryouts when they were 14-to-15 years old. He described watching Vlad hitting 500-foot home runs and feeling like he was putting on a show for him and Tatis. Of both players Juan said, “Vladdy and Tatis, they have always been superstars.”

Newly Found Stolen Base Success

Finally, Juan talked about how much fun he had becoming one of the games best base stealers in 2025.

“I always train myself, you know, to try to be fast. It’s kind of hard to move 230 pounds all over the field. I was well prepared to take off, to run, to move well on the field. But, you know, I was missing a couple things on the bases to try to help my game to increase in that way and getting Antoine Richardson this year, he taught me a couple tricks that we can use on the game and actually worked. It was really impressive.”

Juan described how with Pete behind him he had to choose the right moments to steal bases because he said he needed to be on base for, “one of the best power hitters in the game.” He also said he felt as the season went on they found a happy middle ground and he is excited to take those skills he garnered into the 2026 season and beyond.

You can view the full interview on Major League Baseball’s Youtube Channel.

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