San Diego Padres' Juan Soto Walks His Way into Exclusive Club in Baseball History

Soto walked four times on Thursday, marking the fifth time he's walked four-plus times his career.
San Diego Padres' Juan Soto Walks His Way into Exclusive Club in Baseball History
San Diego Padres' Juan Soto Walks His Way into Exclusive Club in Baseball History /
In this story:

The perfect combination of plate discipline and being a really feared hitter has led San Diego Padres star Juan Soto into the history books.

Soto walked four times on Thursday against his old team, the Washington Nationals, as part of an 8-6 Padres win. It was the fifth, four-plus walk game of his career and Sarah Langs of MLB.com outlined on Twitter the history that comes with.

most 4+ walk games before turning 25, since 1901: 

Juan Soto: 5 

Rickey Henderson: 5 

Ted Williams: 5 

Mel Ott: 5

That is an impressive list to be a part of because it shows the respect that Soto has garnered from other pitchers at such a young age, and it pairs him with an elite group of Hall of Famers.

Soto has one of the best eyes in all of baseball. The 24-year-old currently leads baseball in free passes with 48. He also led the league in 2021 (145 walks) and 2022 (135 walks). 

In addition to a discerning eye, Soto comes with immense power potential at the plate. He's already posted 20 or more home runs in every full season (four) he's played, with the exception of the COVID 2020 season, when he still hit 13 in 60 games.

He's a lifetime .285 hitter who is hitting .262 this season for San Diego.

After the win on Thursday, the Padres are 23-27 on the year. They'll take on the New York Yankees on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. ET.

Joe Musgrove will get the ball on the mound for the Friars.


Published
Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.