Nationals Replacement for Juan Soto has Outperformed Him Since Trade
After sending right fielder Juan Soto and first baseman Josh Bell to the San Diego Padres in a blockbuster trade, the Washington Nationals needed a right fielder.
That day — August 2 to be exact — Joey Meneses received his call-up to the big leagues. After spending eleven years in professional baseball, Meneses made his name known in his Major League debut, homering in his first game.
Meneses has spent time in the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox farm systems and even signed a contract to play in Japan at one point during his big league journey. It's been a long road for the 30-year-old rookie.
Since bringing up Meneses and trading Soto, the Nationals new right fielder has actually outperformed the star that the club traded.
Entering play Wednesday, Meneses was slashing .344/.375/.957 with seven home runs and 16 RBI, through his first 30 games.
In 28 games with the Padres, Soto is slashing .235/.395/.773 with three home runs and 26 RBI, since the trade.
Meneses has four more home runs than Soto does, is batting nearly 90 points better, and has an OPS nearly 200 points higher, too.
Though it's a small sample size, Meneses' early performance is reminiscent to that of a young Soto, when he replaced the Nationals' face of the franchise at the time, Bryce Harper.
In Harper's first year as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019, he slashed .260/.372/.882 with 35 home runs and 114 RBI.
That same year, Soto, in his first full-Major-League season, bested Soto in batting average, on base percentage and OPS, slashing .282/.401/.949, hitting a near identical 34 home runs and 110 RBI. With Soto manning right, the Nationals won the World Series in their first year without Harper.
Meneses may not be Juan Soto. In fact, he probably won't be. He's seven years older than Soto is, at that. The Nationals have the worst record in Major League Baseball and certainly won't be competing for a World Series title this season.
But Meneses has played at an MVP-level for the first month of his career. It may be a very small sample size, but Meneses (and his 172 OPS+) has made sure that Soto's presence hasn't been missed in the Nationals lineup.
Well, at least not yet.
