Juan Soto’s first day at Yankees camp: 3 observations, including a lofty comparison

TAMPA, Fla. — In the New York Yankees’ spring training clubhouse, stars get the prime real estate. On the left side, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are separated by a wall and empty lockers to each side of them, giving them plenty of space to stretch out in their black leather rolling chairs. Aaron Judge’s locker is in the back right corner — closest to the exit that leads to the batting cages. On the other end is Giancarlo Stanton’s locker, which is closest to the door to the hallway.

Next to Stanton is Juan Soto’s locker, where his new teammates had already started to gather to pick his brain on his first official day with the Yankees as position players reported to camp Monday morning. It’s a spot the Yankees hope the 25-year-old occupies until he’s 35, and perhaps even longer.

Because no matter how the season goes for the Yankees, it’s a near lock they’ll try to lock up Soto long term once he becomes a free agent in November. They may even make overtures toward him during the regular season, though hardly anyone employed by the team believes his agent, Scott Boras, will seriously entertain the idea of a contract extension. Soto, who turned down $440 million from the Washington Nationals in 2022, is expected to get much more than that next winter.

In his first news conference with the team, Soto didn’t dismiss the idea of staying in the Bronx for good.

“We gotta get to know the Yankees organization and the city and how it is playing in New York, to see and make a decision there,” he said.

Juan Soto is wearing a shirt that says Juan Soto. pic.twitter.com/uTpGIQqQZT

— Brendan Kuty 🧟‍♂️ (@BrendanKutyNJ) February 19, 2024

Here are our three biggest takeaways from Soto’s first day in pinstripes.

Extension talkSoto said he’s going to leave all contract talk to Boras, who has a reputation for getting the most money possible for his clients. (Four of Boras’ high-end clients, including Blake Snell, still haven’t signed with clubs in decisions that seem aimed at extracting as much dough as they can from teams.)

Manager Aaron Boone said he wouldn’t avoid talking about a long-term deal with Soto if the subject came up. He said he would handle those talks “honestly” with the Dominican Republic-born slugger. Boone said he didn’t talk about an extension much with Judge during his free-agent walk year in 2022, though sometimes the topic would get raised.

“I won’t do anything intentionally,” Boone said. “Just try to let the relationship evolve, and hopefully I can be a good source for not only Juan but any and all of our players.”

When the Yankees acquired Soto, whom they’ll pay $31 million this season, they traded away four young pitchers, including the highly regarded Michael King, and catcher Kyle Higashioka. It was a move many believed the Yankees wouldn’t have made if they weren’t intent on trying to keep Soto for the long haul.

There are reasons for optimism from the Yankees’ perspective. Soto spoke highly Monday of playing his home games at Yankee Stadium, where he’s homered and doubled twice in three career games. He said he believed he’d make the Bronx feel like “home” and pointed to its large Latino community. He said he’s excited to hit next to Judge in the lineup.

“I’m going to be happy there,” Soto said of playing in New York City. “It’s going to be electric.”

A closed-door meetingBoone invited Soto into his office for a one-on-one talk Monday. The manager said he wanted Soto to be a leader and to “pour” himself into his teammates while making it clear that he’s important to the club.

“Just trying to get him as comfortable as we can and see what happens,” Boone said.

Boone said he wants to have a “really open and transparent” relationship with Soto and that the meeting was an attempt to ease his transition onto the team.

“I want him to feel free that he can always come in and hopefully talk through things with me,” Boone said. “I’ll never guarantee that I’ll do something, but I’ll certainly always be willing and open to talk about things, especially about a player of his stature.”

A Barry Bonds comparisonSoto didn’t at all seem uneasy about being in the Yankees clubhouse for the first time. He chatted early in the morning with Judge and Gleyber Torres. As his news conference, he wore a shirt that read “Generational Juan Soto” — a nod to his confidence and an acknowledgment that he knows his place as one of the best young hitters the game has ever seen. He answered each question with a smile and with ease. For a Yankees fan, it likely wasn’t difficult to imagine him wearing pinstripes well beyond this season. Boone said Soto looked good to go as he watched him in the indoor batting cages in the morning.

In fact, Boone dropped a major compliment on Soto when he compared him to Barry Bonds, perhaps the greatest hitter of all time and certainly one of the best from when Boone was a major-league third baseman. Boone lauded Soto’s plate discipline from the left side.

“I think the closest thing you could say is Barry Bonds,” Boone said. “Bonds would get pitched around all weekend long, and the one pitch that showed up in the strike zone, he hit it in McCovey Cove. That’s something different than we’ve probably ever seen at a time when offense was more explosive. … If you’re talking about my generation of players, that’s probably the comp you’re talking about.”

(Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)