Juan Soto, Washington Nationals
Homers: 22
Ground-Ball Rate: 53.7%
Fly-Ball Rate: 28.8%
The Nationals were massive disappointments this year — they started with championship aspirations and ended with an 82-80 record and no playoff berth. Who knows how worse it could’ve been without the emergence of Juan Soto, though.
While the 19-year-old didn’t hit many fly balls, he made the most of them by almost matching his fly-ball rate with a 24.7% home-runs-per-fly-ball rate. He didn’t make his MLB debut until May 15th, but his 3.7 fWAR ended up being a shade higher than Bryce Harper (3.5 fWAR), who played in 159 games.
The most stunning part of Soto’s plate approach is his patience — especially at his age. He struck out at a 20.0% clip, but also boasted an impressive 16.0% walk rate, partially thanks to a 21.9% chase rate. Only 14 other hitters with 450-plus plate appearances had a lower chase rate, with his being basically identical to Mike Trout (21.8%).
That’s some pretty good company to be in.
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