At least as the Nationals’ top young OF prospect, that is, as 17-y.o. Juan Soto was named the 2016 Gulf Coast League Most Valuable Player as well as one of its postseason all-stars after leading the Rookie circuit with a .361 batting average and a .550 slugging percentage and finishing second in on-base percentage at .410.
Last summer, Soto was signed by the Nationals for $1.5 million, the most ever and nearly double the $900K shelled out in 2013 for Anderson Franco.
OK, now that we’ve dispensed with the obligatory (knee-jerk) comp and fawning over (other people’s) money spent, what lies ahead for Soto in ’17? He turns 18 next month but spent less than a week in Auburn, where he hit .429 (9-for-21) with three doubles in six games.
Could the Nationals start him in Hagerstown? Ten years ago, the Nationals started 18-y.o. Chris Marrero at Hagerstown after just 22 games in the GCL the previous summer, but the conventional wisdom is Dominican-born players need more time to acclimate to the American culture.
Unlike the windmill of a non-existent “scoreless game” (game always has a score, it begins with 0-0), I’ve given up tilting against the idea of fast-tracking position prospects, even if I can easily cite some mistakes (*cough* Brian Goodwin *cough*). The Nats have been successful enough often enough, period. Not to mention, they’re working with information that we don’t have.
So go ahead and think about taking a trip to Hagerstown next spring, or Woodbridge next summer; Juan Soto could very well play in one or both places in 2017.