TAMPA — There is watching Juan Soto from afar — either from across the diamond or through highlight reels — and then there is watching him on your team every day.
After years of doing the former, the Yankees are savoring the latter.
“I knew I would enjoy watching him, but like, I love watching him,” Gerrit Cole said Friday. “It’s a real pleasure to get to watch him that I’m thankful for.”
Soto is still only four games into his Yankees tenure — and spring training games at that — but he hasn’t wasted any time in providing regular reminders of his talent.
The star outfielder homered for the third time in four games Sunday, capping off an eight-pitch at-bat with a 405-foot shot.
“It’s impressive,” manager Aaron Boone said after the 7-2 loss to the Tigers at Steinbrenner Field. “I mean, I feel like he’s going to kill the wall every time he swings. It’s fun to watch.”
Spring training results generally do not mean much, especially for veterans (even if Soto is still just 25), but his at-bats may be even more encouraging than their end results.
In his first plate appearance Sunday, he watched three pitches to fall behind 1-2 (with one of the called strikes being out of the zone) before fouling off three borderline pitches and taking another ball.
Then he got a slider low in the zone from Tigers right-hander Matt Manning and did not miss, belting it for a solo home run.
“He embodies what we want to be as a lineup, with the toughness of the at-bat,” Boone said. “He’s certainly that.”
Through four games, Soto is 6-for-9 with three homers, two doubles, two walks and one strikeout. His biggest focus in spring training is seeing pitches and focusing on his timing, particularly against sinkers and off-speed offerings.
“Sometimes that’s why I take one pitch,” said Soto, who nearly hit another home run to left field in his second at-bat before roping a single his third time up. “Sometimes I don’t like to take one pitch because I feel like my timing gets better when I start swinging.”
Soto’s new teammates have enjoyed seeing what happens when he does swing.
“It feels like at home, when I get out of that first inning, it should be 2-0 by the time I go [back] out,” Nestor Cortes said. “It’s kind of like that 62 [home run] year that [Aaron] Judge had where every time he went up to the plate, everybody was expecting a homer.”
Since the beginning of camp, the Yankees have talked about wanting to make Soto quickly feel as comfortable as possible in his new environment — not just because he has a free-agent decision looming next offseason, but because the more comfortable he is, the better he might perform this season.
One of the Yankees’ clubhouse leaders, Anthony Rizzo, said it was on them to “make sure [Soto] knows — him and every new guy — that this is their team, too.”
So far, so good.
“They have been doing a really good job in welcoming me in and making me feel comfortable here,” Soto said.
As for Cole’s comments about loving watching him play?
“That means I’m doing my job right,” Soto said.
Opposing pitchers might not feel as warm and fuzzy about it this season, especially with Judge batting behind Soto.
Having them bat in that order might force pitchers to give Soto a few more pitches to hit, though Boone didn’t think that was a guarantee.
“They’re going to be incredibly careful with Juan Soto,” Boone said. “But it should help. The fact that he’s probably going to get on [base] at a ridiculously high clip regardless, to have another great hitter walking up there [behind him] hopefully serves us well.”
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