YOUNG BLOOD
Soto, 19, and Acuna, 20, may haunt Mets for years
FIVE thoughts for the midweek:
1. Juan Soto is the youngest player in the majors this season. The Nationals outfielder will turn 20 in October. He began Wednesday with 314 plate appearances, which means if he plays regularly the rest of the season, he has a decent shot at reaching the 502 necessary to be a qualified hitter.
If Soto were qualified now, a 19year-old would be fourth in the majors in on-base percentage (.422) behind three of the best hitters of this era: Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Joey Votto. The only teenager with even 100 plate appearances and an on-base percentage above .400 in MLB history was Whitey Lockman at .410 in 148 plate appearances for the 1945 New York Giants.
Soto also has a .548 slugging percentage. That actually trails the .576 of Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna, who is the second-youngest player this season. At 20, Acuna on Tuesday became the youngest player since at least 1908 to homer in five straight games. He had homered leading off the Braves’ last three games before he was plunked in the first inning Wednesday and left the game. Acuna had eight homers in eight games.
These two are setting up quite a tussle for the NL Rookie of the Year. But also if you were, say, the Mets, think about playing 19 games against each of these guys for years to come — plus add in Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies, 21, the third-youngest position player this season and 10th in the NL in Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs).
2. By the way, how could the Nationals get this season out of nowhere from Soto (who began the season at Low-A) and potentially another Cy Young out of Max Scherzer and be a .500 team with the 19th-best record in the majors? There is pathology that Nats GM Mike Rizzo is going to have to fix in the offseason.
3. By the way, with Soto and Acuna performing in this fashion, there is no reason short of servicetime manipulation that 19-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is not up playing third base daily for the Blue Jays. At four levels this year, Guerrero was hitting .397, including .372 in 13 games since being promoted to Triple-A.
Early in the season you could argue Toronto wanted to contend and, thus, went with veterans first. But that went away a long time ago. Regular third baseman Josh Donaldson has not played since May 28, and he is a free agent after this season. Brandon Drury, obtained from the Yankees for J.A. Happ, fractured his hand and hasn’t played since Aug. 4. You know who has started at third the past three games? Catcher Russell Martin. Guerrero could be getting valuable reps in the majors right now, in part showing whether he has the defensive chops to stick at third.
Keeping players down who deserve to play in the majors is thought of as a union problem. But MLB should want to rectify this as well. The 750 best players should be in the majors at all times. Period.
4. On the subject of third base, would the traditional financial superpowers have been better off acquiring the big walk-year Oriole whom the other did — the Yankees getting Manny Machado to play third and the Dodgers landing Zach Britton?
Neither Machado nor Britton has performed as hoped in his new locale. But even for just a good bat, but stellar defense at third, Machado would be helping the Yankees. Miguel Andujar would be shifted to first base either to complement or replace Greg Bird and also DH.
The Dodgers could not anticipate that closer Kenley Jansen would have a recurrence of a heart issue that has landed him on the DL, perhaps for a month. But they did know that their bullpen was other- wise populated by relievers without a ton of late-game experience. Britton, even struggling, at least knows the terrain to close. 5. But the greatest impact from trades has not been with infielders or relievers. It has been starters. And no team has received more than the Yankees with J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn, who have helped the club weather the plummet of ace Luis Severino and the removal from the rotation of Sonny Gray, the big trade acquisition last July. Happ and Lynn have combined for six games with the Yankees (five starts) and are 4-0 with a 1.26 ERA. In fact, the early returns for the eight starters obtained in July or, in the case of Oakland’s Mike Fiers, in August, has been generally excellent. The worst actually has been the one who cost the most in prospect collateral in return, Pittsburgh’s Chris Archer, who is 1-0 with a 5.74 ERA in three starts, including giving up four runs in five innings Wednesday, since being dealt from Tampa Bay. Besides Archer, Nathan Eovaldi (2-0, 2.04 ERA since joining the Red Sox) and Kevin Gausman (1-1, 2.77 since going to the Braves) also were on the mound Wednesday. Also, Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow (2.25 ERA, 20 strikeouts in 12 innings as a key return for Archer), the Cubs’ Cole Hamels (2-0, 1.00 ERA, 20 strikeouts in 18 innings) and Fiers (1-0, 2.38 ERA, 13 strikeouts in 11 ¹/3 innings) have shined since relocating. Going into Wednesday, those eight pitchers with their new teams were a combined 11-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 21 games (20 starts) with 118 strikeouts in 117 innings.