Padres News: Juan Soto Does Something That Hasn’t Been Done Since Adrian Gonzalez was a Friar

An exclusive club for sure.

Earlier this week, Padres superstar slugger Juan Soto joined a limited crowd after drawing a walk to finish out a game against the Orioles. 

The free pass gave Soto 100 bases on balls for the season. Paired with his 100 hits and 100 punchouts on the year, the feat hadn't been accomplished since A-Gon in 2009. 

This is one of the stranger “clubs” to belong to, in that it involves two good things and one “bad” thing. But some pretty good players are members. Soto became just the fifth Padres player to ever have at least 100 hits, 100 strikeouts and 100 walks in a season. Soto also accomplished the triple triple in 2019. He is one of 13 players to have done it at least once since 2018 and joins Bryce Harper and Mike Trout as the only players to have done it twice in that span.

via Kevin Acee, San Diego Tribune

A strange milestone, it's exclusive company nonetheless for one of the NL's MVP contenders this year. 

Soto to his credit is having a fantastic year aside from his high strikeout total for his standards. 

Through this point in the year, Soto has hit 24 homers and has an OPS just under .900. 

Playing in left field, Soto's still a slightly below average fielder, but his performance with the bat has given San Diego a chance to compete on a game to game basis. 

It's another impressive goal for Soto as he's continued to perform since joining San Diego through trade at last year's deadline. 

The move eventually propelled the Padres to an NLCS appearance before bowing out to Philadelphia for the pennant. 

This year's Padres still have some work to do if they want to make a postseason run, but Soto will be here to help that conquest in any way possible.