Padres News: How The Home Run Derby Helped With Juan Soto's Swing

The lefty slugger credits Home Run Derby to less ground balls and more line drives and fly balls

The San Diego Padres went all in last year's trade deadline and won the Juan Soto sweepstakes. The trade changed the team's trajectory, if it hadn't been changed already, and put San Diego as a perennial team in the league. At only 24 years old, Soto has already established himself as one of the premier talents in the majors, and it all started with his former team, the Washington Nationals. 

As a National, he accomplished so much in his four-and-a-half season there; he became a two-time All-Star, a three-time silver slugger, a World Series champion, and a home run derby champion in 2022, just before getting traded to California. 

The home run Derby may not be as significant as the other awards, but it's what helped the lefty slugger with his swing, according to the man himself. Soto told MLB insider Sarah Langs that he felt the Derby would help his swing, and it did. 

“It might mess with the swing of all the guys that are locked in, but I think it’s going to fix mine because I’m hitting too many ground balls,” Soto said leading up to that Derby. “I hope it fixes my swing trying to put the ball in the air. That’s what we’ve been trying the whole year, so I hope it fixes mine.”In 2022, he returned, with the same goal in mind: “I mean, for me, it worked last year.” And he won the event."

It may not seem like it through the naked eye, but his numbers have sky-rocketed in the fly balls and line drives category. Langs stated, in his first 26 games, 34.4% of his batted balls were fly balls and line drives, and since then, it's now at 42.4%. 

Juan Soto sends one out! pic.twitter.com/4WN1DgmZpu

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 21, 2023

If the former batting champion can do it at a consistent rate and the Frairs find their groove, San Diego will look like the contenders we all had them to be quite soon.