Yankees Coach Wants Juan Soto to Emulate Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr.
Juan Soto is no longer on the San Diego Padres, but his New York Yankees outfield coach, Luis Rojas, would like to see him emulate one of his former teammates: Fernando Tatis Jr.
Though Soto is a top MLB hitter, a former National League batting champion, and a three-time All-Star, he still has room to improve as an outfielder.
Rojas believes Tatis Jr. brings "swag" to the outfield as a player. If Soto can copy that energy and confidence, Rojas feels it could improve his game.
“Can he have the swag? I think I’ve seen the swag, like pimping some fly balls, letting balls just fall into the glove, and then playing with them. Let's see how he feels. If he’s more comfortable that he wants to do those things, as long as he’s making the plays, I'm good with it. He enjoys the game of baseball.”
Soto has ranked in the bottom five in fielding in MLB over the last two seasons, since the Washington Nationals traded him to the Padres in 2022.
Rojas and the Yankees are hoping to turn Soto's fielding struggles around in 2024. Soto himself noted some of the specifics he's focused on heading into the season.
“I want to keep improving in every spot, but my strength has got to be definitely coming in on the ball and trying to grab those bloopers from the other side. That's a strength right now where I try to help my pitchers as much as I can, cutting those balls off. But definitely, I want to improve … in my arm and throwing and going into the gaps.”
From a purely defensive standpoint, the Soto trade could be addition by subtraction for the Padres. He was the team's lowest-rated player by Statcast's Outs Above Average metric (minus-9) last season.
If Soto can pull off these changes and play outfield with the confidence of a player like Tatis Jr., the Yankees will have come away with an even stronger output than expected from their trade for Soto this offseason.
