Yankees counting on Juan Soto to continue being a smashing success against Dodgers in World Series

Brian Cashman, the Yankees' general manager since 1998 and a member of the organization since he served as an intern in 1986, has learned over the years to avoid speaking in hyperbole.

Among his many go-to phrases — known colloquially among many in the media who have covered him for a lengthy period of time as “Cashman-isms” — has been: Under-promise and over-deliver.

Still, once in a while, Cashman travels the hype road, with mixed results.

There was, for instance, his characterization of outfield prospect Clint Frazier, the centerpiece of the Andrew Miller deal with Cleveland at the 2016 trade deadline, as having “legendary bat speed.” Frazier, much of his own doing, was a major flop.

But Juan Soto?

Cashman laid the superlatives on hot and heavy soon after completing a deal for the outfielder during last December’s winter meetings. And Soto not only has matched the hype but may have surpassed it.

Besides referring to Soto’s bat as “transformational,” Cashman also said, among other things: “Everybody knows he’s a Hall of Fame-caliber-type player, right?”

Right indeed.

Soto gave an indication of what was to come in his first game wearing a Yankees uniform.

It was Feb. 25 at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa in a split-squad spring training game against the Blue Jays. Soto grounded out and walked in his first two plate appearances. Then he banged an opposite-field homer off the scoreboard in leftfield, a place few lefthanded hitters have visited at Steinbrenner.

Soto almost effortlessly served a fastball from Trevor Richards, which arrived on the outer half of the plate and slightly high, an estimated 428 feet, with the ball departing his bat at just over 110 mph.

Soto’s new teammates celebrated in the dugout. It obviously didn't match their reaction when Soto’s three-run homer off Cleveland's Hunter Gaddis in the 10th inning of ALCS Game 5 last Saturday sent the Yankees to the World Series, but it was something along the lines of: “Can you believe this guy’s on our team now?”

As Gerrit Cole, who will start Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, put it then: “I knew I would enjoy watching him. But, like, I love watching him. It’s a real pleasure to get to watch him. That I’m thankful for.”

The Yankees certainly have been thankful for Soto all season. He was consistent from pillar to post, hitting .288 with 41 homers, 109 RBIs, 129 walks and a .988 OPS.

If not for Aaron Judge’s 58-homer season and the fact that the Yankees' captain led MLB in pretty much every other offensive category of significance, Soto would have been in the thick of the AL MVP discussion.

Include Judge in those thankful for Soto’s presence. Judge hit 62 homers two seasons ago, so it’s not as if he was dependent on him, but there’s no question that batting immediately behind Soto helped Judge immensely.

Judge, who in the offseason called Soto a “generational talent” soon after the Yankees acquired him, knew the kind of player who would be joining him. But after spending a full season with him, Judge has learned something about the four-time All-Star.

“Any time you see superstars like that, a lot of that is God-given ability, but getting a chance to see the hard work and dedication he puts in behind the scenes,” Judge said earlier this week.

He recalled a mid-May trip to Minneapolis when Soto was coming off, in Judge’s words, “a couple of bad games.”

“I saw him in the cage, he showed up early, he’s doing work with Pat Roessler,” Judge said of one of the Yankees’ assistant hitting coaches (Roessler worked with Soto early in his career when the outfielder came up with the Nationals). “I was talking to him, ‘Hey, what are you working on?’ He’s like, ‘Ah, I don’t feel right.’ This isn’t feeling right, that isn’t feeling right, and I’m looking up at the scoreboard and he’s hitting .320 with 15 homers or something, and I’m like, ‘I think you’re doing all right.’ ”

Judge laughed.

“It’s just impressive to see, even a guy like him, it looks like he’s got it all figured  out, and he continues to put in the work and dedication year in and year out,” he said. “So that was pretty cool to see. He’s one of the best players in the game, a superstar, and he continues to want to improve and do better.”

The question that has hung over the entire season — and really, pretty much from the time Soto arrived in December — is just how long Judge, the Yankees and their fans will get to be thankful for him. Soto, who will turn 26 on Friday,  will be a free agent after the season.

Much — far too much — was made earlier in the season when managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said he was willing to make an exception to  what has been his policy over the years. He generally has not done extensions and has allowed contracts to expire, but the owner told the YES Network’s Jack Curry in mid-May that he was willing to explore, in-season, making Soto “a Yankee for life.”

Soto’s agent, Scott Boras,  said at the time that he would be willing to listen at any time. Soto said the same.

And, predictably, nothing came of it.

Boras almost always takes his clients into free agency, and with the very real possibility of Mets owner Steven Cohen getting involved in the bidding — as well as other clubs such as the Giants, Nationals and Phillies who have shown the desire in recent years to offer mega-contracts —  not testing the market was never truly realistic.

The industry expectation all season is that Soto will get an offer of least $500 million, with the very real possibility of it being $600 million or more. And that’s regardless of whether the Yankees beat the Dodgers for their first World Series title since 2009.

For his part, Soto has been as remarkably consistent when answering questions about free agency as he has been on the field. And those questions have been non-stop since Day 1.

In saying each and every time how much he’s liked putting on a Yankees uniform and how being a part of a team that can win every year is important, like any good business person, Soto hasn’t tipped his hand.

“They’ve made [it] feel like home,” he said toward the end of the regular season. “But you never rule out any team. I’ve felt very comfortable since I got here, and we have to wait and see what will happen in free agency.”