After a triumphant road trip, the Yankees were shut out in Friday’s home opener as Juan Soto went 0-4 with two strikeouts.
Yankees fans expected something special for their Yankees home opener. The team was coming off an impressive 6-1 road trip, during which they took a series against the Houston Astros and another versus the defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Plus, Soto has slashed .345/.441/.483 in seven games, along with a home run, four RBIs, and five walks in 29 plate appearances.
Everything seemed set up for the Yankees and Juan Soto to do something special on this cold Friday afternoon. However, it just wasn’t to be. The Yankees took a 3-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, and the new Yankee struck out twice in four plate appearances. After a 9-for-17 start, Soto is in a 1-for-16 slide.
Yankees fans had the good taste of not booing Soto. Still, if there are plenty of performances like this, he will experience what Alex Rodriguez, Giancarlo Stanton, and many underachieving Yankees did when they came up short in big moments. The Bronx Bombers did get booed as the game went on, though.
Who knows what went wrong? Maybe it was the weather, or maybe they were coming off a long road trip and struggling to get into a rhythm here. It was a day to forget. That’s for sure.
This is what the Yankees are. They’re a feast-or-famine team that relies on the long ball to win games, a far cry from their championship days when they relied on small-ball. This team lacks the athleticism to manufacture runs if the weather isn’t good enough for them to hit runs or if they face good pitching. And that’s why it’s hard to take them seriously as a World Series championship team.
Soto is supposed to be a difference maker, and he may very well be when all is said and done, but he has to do more than just hit home runs. He has to combine speed, power, clutch hitting, and the joyful embrace of big moments. We won’t know until we see what he does. Can the new guy be Reggie “Mr. October” Jackson or Dave “Mr. May” Winfield?
Being a Yankee is about handling pressure. Some view it as a privilege, and others view it as a burden. It seems like Soto has the goods to handle the pressure just from how he goes about his business. It would have been nice if Soto had shown that in the home opener. Even if he homered in a Yankees’ loss, fans would’ve felt good leaving the game knowing that they were watching a special player.
Striking out twice against a quality team in this weather might make Yankees fans wonder if they see another Stanton, who also struck out twice on Friday in four plate appearances. A 1-for-16 slump will raise more questions than answers. That’s just how it is at Yankeeland, and Soto will learn it the hard way.
It will be interesting to see how Soto’s season goes here. He is an impending free agent, and how this season goes may dictate whether he signs with the Yankees or not. Reports indicate that the Yankees slugger will likely sign a new contract, but nothing is guaranteed unless and until he signs on the dotted line.
Friday doesn’t change anything, but it would have been nice if he had a Yankee moment that would have caused the YES Network to start creating a montage of him on Yankeeography. Maybe tonight will be different.
