Yankees' Juan Soto Era about to begin

TAMPA, Fla. — Things are about to get real at Yankees camp.

That was evident on a rainy Sunday at Steinbrenner Field when Juan Soto showed up in the clubhouse.

Few players in camp are likely to produce more excitement during the next six weeks than Soto, acquired from the Padres in a megadeal during December’s winter meetings to bolster what last season was a woefully underperforming offense.

The outfielder made his first Steinbrenner Field appearance of spring training Sunday morning, albeit for a short time, dressing quickly and heading a little less than a mile away to the club’s minor-league complex to work out.

“I saw Juan briefly,” said Aaron Boone, who talked and texted with the three-time All-Star a “handful” of times since the trade but had not met him in person until Sunday. “Look forward to having him over here tomorrow and start really getting to know him. It was good to see him.”

 Soto, 25, a free agent at season’s end, was at the complex for the first time on Wednesday after arriving in town.

“Just a magnificent hitter. Best feel for the strike zone that I’ve ever come across,” said Gerrit Cole, against whom Soto is 4-for-6 with a double and two homers in his career. “Man, is he going to be tough to deal with. Having faced him and not really had a ton of success, to be quite honest, very thankful that I don’t have to pitch against him. Very thankful that he’s on our side.”

The lefthanded-hitting Soto, who is expected to address the media on Monday, when position players are scheduled to report to camp, comes with high expectations and few holes, certainly when it comes to his bat.

Soto, who helped lead the Nationals to a World Series title in 2019 as a 20-year-old (he homered and doubled off Cole, then with the Astros, in Game 1 of that series), hit .275  with 35 homers and a .930 OPS last season. Soto, who played in all 162 games in 2023, also worked an MLB-best 132 walks and had a .410 on-base percentage.

Acquiring Soto, as well as defense-first outfielder Trent Grisham, cost the Yankees plenty as they sent righthanders Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka to the Padres.

“A transformational bat,” general manager Brian Cashman said of Soto shortly after completing the trade.

Soto and Aaron Judge will hit back-to-back in the lineup in some order — the likely scenario is Soto hitting second and Judge third — creating what on paper would seem to be the best 2-3 punch in the sport.

“We gave up quite a few pieces to get him, but he’s a generational talent,” Judge, appearing on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York,” said in December the day after the Soto deal became official. “His track record, his stats speak for themselves. I think everybody in the Yankee universe is pretty excited to have him on board.”

The Yankees also imported the lefthanded-hitting Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox to jump-start an offense that finished 25th in the majors in runs (673), 27th in on-base percentage (.304) and 29th in batting average (.227).

Cashman acknowledged Thursday that Soto is likely to reach free agency — “the odds are this is a one-year situation,” he said — which should not  be treated as news, given that Scott Boras clients almost always do not sign extensions and, as a result, test the free-agent market.

But that is for the offseason. For now, the focus is on 2024 and the upgrade Soto should provide.

“It should, obviously, have a real impact,” Cashman said Thursday. “It’s a big add for a big reason.”

Even though pitchers and catchers reported last Wednesday, marking the de facto start of spring training, pretty much everyone in the game will say position players reporting is the official jumping-off point for a given year. The Yankees' first full-squad workout is scheduled for  Tuesday.

“It’s one of those days on the calendar that’s, frankly, an exciting day,” Boone said Sunday. “We’re at the hope-springs-eternal portion of the show and it’s always good to get everyone here. It’s an important day and it should be an exciting day.”