Juan Soto Effect has Yankees' clubhouse buzzing after Opening Day win
The Yankees' Juan Soto hits an RBI single during the fifth inning of a game against the Astros on Thursday in Houston. Credit: AP/Kevin M. Cox
HOUSTON
The music inside the Yankees’ clubhouse after Thursday’s game was deafening, the bass shaking the concrete walls like cardboard. This same room had been the scene of so much pinstriped heartbreak, the air usually thick with despair, that it could have served as a cell block for past visits to Minute Maid Park.
But not after the Yankees rallied from four runs down early to stun the Astros late, 5-4, for an improbable Opening Day victory that cranked up the volume to 11 on the clubhouse speakers.
The party thumped until it came time for Juan Soto to speak about his debut heroics.
As the two dozen reporters circled Soto, he glanced across the room toward the sound system, holding up his hand above the crowd while making a gesture to cut the noise. Immediately, the room went quiet.
It was time for business, and Soto — wearing a Yankees uniform for only seven weeks — had plenty to talk about.
Soto is a serious person, committed to his craft. That includes both sides of the ball, as the Astros — along with their sellout crowd of 42,642 — painfully discovered Thursday.
We could have predicted that it would be Soto who sparked the rally back from a 4-0 deficit, smacking a line-drive RBI single that triggered a three-run fifth inning.
But what Soto did in the bottom of the ninth surpassed anyone’s expectations, particularly those of the Astros’ Mauricio Dubon and third-base coach Gary Pettis.
Soto is primarily an offensive weapon, a slugging and on-base machine who is likely to command a contract in excess of $500 million at season’s end.
So when Kyle Tucker smacked a sinking liner to rightfield, with Dubon taking off from second and attempting to tie the score, Pettis wasn’t thinking about Soto’s arm.
Given the situation — down a run, one out in the ninth — it was the dice roll the Astros had to take, and Pettis wound up sending Dubon to his doom.
Soto scooped up the line drive cleanly, then delivered a perfect one-hop bullet to catcher Jose Trevino, who just got the sweep tag into Dubon’s rib cage before his fingertips reached the plate.
“I’m just prepared before that even happens,” Soto said. “My mindset was just try to make a great throw to the plate and let [Trevino] do what he wants to do.”
Soto talking so matter-of-factly about the game-saving play gives you some insight into his coldblooded nature between the lines. He doesn’t get shook, regardless of the situation, and it’s not a stretch to say that these Yankees — after six weeks around him in Tampa and an Opening Day win probably bigger than any other in recent memory — already are responding to the Soto Effect.
“One of the things that stood out, in talking to our coaches and staff members, is [Soto] having the work ethic,” manager Aaron Boone said. “His process and work ethic and care factor — it’s not just hitting; he takes a lot of pride in his defense. He wants to be great on defense. He wants to be really good on the bases. And he made a big-time winning play.”
There was the added suspense of the Astros challenging Trevino’s tag, even suggesting there could have been obstruction by the catcher (from our vantage point, that was ridiculous, but who knows these days). Soto insisted he was never worried.
“It was a long wait,” he said. “But when we saw it on the screen, we called him out right away.”
Aaron Judge, who knows a little something about cutting guys down from rightfield, felt confident as he watched Soto’s first step. He could see Dubon in motion, and as Judge tracked his progress, he liked their chances.
Judge recalled witnessing the defensive work Soto put in at the Steinbrenner Field complex throughout spring training — improving his technique and building arm strength — and that made him pretty sure about what would happen next.
“I think the most important thing is getting the ball,” Judge said. “A lot of people skip that step, and that’s where it kind of causes a lot of issues. But he was nice and easy, got the ball, and then from there, it’s trust it and let it rip.”
The clubhouse was buzzing about Soto’s throw. Without that, Dubon ties the score and the Astros, with two runners on, keep chipping away at closer Clay Holmes. We’ve seen that movie before. It typically doesn’t end well for the Yankees.
But the Soto Effect had taken hold of these Yankees before then. You think it was a coincidence Thursday that they were all grinding through their at-bats, right down to their 27th out?
The Yankees have a new hitting coach in James Rowson, but don’t underestimate the residue from Soto in that No. 2 spot. That intensity is infectious, and it’s worth every one of those five pitchers Brian Cashman sent to the Padres in December (as well as the $30 million Soto is pulling in as a rental).
“When you see how we went through the game,” Soto said, “it tells you a lot.”
And the Yankees couldn’t take their eyes off Soto. His value already is soaring faster than the S&P 500.
“That was a Yankee Classic right there: Juan’s Debut,” said Judge, who’s starred in plenty himself. “That was pretty special out of him. That just speaks volumes to the type of player he is and the type of presence he has.”
Enough to silence a room on command. And an entire stadium, too.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
