The Fact That It Took Juan Soto 731 Career Games To Strike Out Four Times In One Contest Is Mindblowing

Juan Soto is amazing. When it’s all said and done, I think he may be the best hitter of my lifetime. I don’t think that’s an over-exaggeration. He’s only 24 years old, and despite being a world champion, making All-Star teams and winning Silver Sluggers, I don’t even think he’s close to reaching his ceiling. He’s incredible. At the same time, even the best hitters in the world have an off night or two, and last night was, in terms of strikeouts, the worst night of Juan Soto’s career. In his 731st career game, he struck out four times.

Soto came into last night's game with the same number of strikeouts as he had walks on the season. That number obviously changed last night, but it's not something that should be overlooked. We live in the age of the strikeout. And boomers can complain about how nobody ever struck out back in the day, and it's unacceptable to strike out. It's much more acceptable to strike out when you have guys coming out of the bullpen throwing 105 MPH. That said, Soto does feel stuck out of time. He's the best of both worlds as far as a hitter is concerned. He has generational power and yet sees the ball better than anybody I've ever seen. The fact that it took him this long to strike out four times in a game is a testament to his greatness.

I'm sure there will still be people who claim that it's not that hard to avoid striking out four times in the game, but when you look at the modern age of hitters, everyone, even the best players in a sport, can have a few bad nights. Elly De La Cruz for the Reds is one of the more electric players I've seen in a minute. It took him 35 games to strike out four times. Riley Greene of the Tigers was at one point a top prospect in baseball, and he's had a really good season for Detroit this year. He struck out four times in one game on his 19th career game. Even Bryce Harper, maybe the most hyped-up prospect in my lifetime, got a golden sombrero in his 43rd career game. Remember that Soto started his career with the Nationals as a 19-year-old. The fact that he never had a four-strikeout game before he was old enough to drink is insane. 

You have to give Seattle Mariners pitching a lot of credit for this one. Logan Gilbert is phenomenal. Lost in all this is the fact that Gilbert became the first right-handed pitcher to strike out Soto three times in one game. Also, Andres Munoz looked filthy, closing the game out in the ninth inning and striking out Juan Soto with the tying run on first. Having multiple pitchers combine to strike out Juan Soto four times in the game is more impressive than having several pitchers combine to throw a no-hitter. We see combined no-hitters all the time. Juan Soto has only struck out four times once. I can guarantee you this won't become a trend for Soto, but it's definitely something to hang your hat on if you're a Mariners pitcher.