Aaron Judge is having the kind of season that could go down in the history books, and he’s clearly the best player on this Yankees’ team. There aren’t questions about who the best hitter on the team is, managers and pitchers treat New York’s captain in a manner that’s getting eerily close to what teams did to Barry Bonds at the start of the 21st Century. His greatness has helped this team stay right in the AL East race, but on the other hand, it’s masked one of the best offensive seasons we’ve seen for a left-handed hitter in the post-integration era.
Somehow, Juan Soto’s incredible 2024 campaign has been wildly underappreciated, and he’s made some key adjustments to put together one of the most dominant stretches we’ve ever seen.
Juan Soto is Etching Himself In the Yankees’ History Books
We know that Juan Soto is one of the best hitters in the game, but he’s reached new heights in his debut season with the New York Yankees. His offensive production is the best of his career, on pace to set a new career-high in home runs and running by far the best wRC+ (190) in a full 162-game season. Sure, it won’t result in him winning AL MVP because of the efforts of fellow outfielder Aaron Judge, but he’s torching the baseball at a higher frequency than ever.
Let’s focus on the Sweet Spot% first, a metric that measures how often a batted ball is hit with a launch angle between 8 and 32 degrees. In order to hit for a high average, you have to consistently generate batted balls with a high hit expectancy, and Juan Soto has gone from being below-average in that metric to above-average in just one season. Even in a poor run environment this season, Juan Soto’s average has climbed significantly from 2023, but in combination with his other batted ball metrics, it’s resulting in a ridiculous campaign.
On top of hitting more line drives and fewer groundballs, Juan Soto is hitting the ball a lot harder, with a +1.5 increase in Exit Velocity and a ridiculous 7.1% increase in Barrel Rate, allowing him to combine an incredible hit tool with 80-grade raw power. Juan Soto is the rare case of a hitter who has both the barrel control and bat speed to make contact when he needs to but also crush a baseball when situations call for it, which is why he’s both the top-10 in Squared-Up% and Blast%, the only hitter with that distinction this season.
This is a historic kind of season for Juan Soto, who has the highest wRC+ by a left-handed hitter (min. 500 PAs) for any left-handed batter on the Yankees since integration (190). There’s no stipulation, no weird filter, he’s straight-up just the best left-handed hitter this franchise has had in nearly a century. If look at just the history of the franchise, only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig have had better wRC+ numbers than him in a single season.
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In reference to Juan Soto’s own career, this is by far the best season he’s ever had. He’s going to surpass his single-season high in fWAR, he’s going to have the best wRC+ of his career, and it’s the perfect season for a guy entering free agency. It doesn’t mean that he’ll continue to ascend, but a 25-year-old finding his power stroke at a level that he hasn’t at any point in his Major League career. The Yankees have gotten some unbelievable production from Aaron Judge, but that conversation has to also center around Juan Soto as well.
There’s a good chance he becomes the second-highest paid player in MLB history, slotting right behind Shohei Ohtani, and his rise from a 5-6 WAR player to one who could challenge for a 10 WAR season is pretty incredible. He’s improved defensively, but he’s also one of the best hitters I’ve seen play for this team in my lifetime, and in a world where Aaron Judge wasn’t the best hitter we’ve seen since Barry Bonds, that would get appreciated a lot more.