Juan Soto discusses Yankees future as Nationals fans push for reunion

WASHINGTON — Almost everywhere Juan Soto goes these days, there are questions about his future. 

But as he returned to his past on Monday — to the place he debuted as a big leaguer in 2018, won a World Series in 2019, became one of the top players in the game and eventually turned down a hefty extension offer — Soto was in the midst of arguably the best season of his career, all in a contract year and at the age of 25. 

So while the questions persisted on Monday as Soto came back to Nationals Park for the third time as a visitor, this time as a Yankee and just a few months away from free agency, the “generational” talent stuck to his familiar script. 

“At the end of the day, right now I’m playing for the Yankees,” Soto said inside the visiting clubhouse before the Yankees and Nationals opened a series. “I’m happy where I’m at. We’ll see what happens in free agency.” 

A day after the Yankee Stadium crowd reminded Soto of their wishes for him to stick around – to which Soto said postgame, “They have to talk to [general manager Brian] Cashman” – the fans at Nationals Park gave him a rousing standing ovation as he came to the plate for his first at-bat.

Soto took off his helmet and saluted the crowd, which later came up with faint chants of “Come Home Soto,” though it was a Yankees-heavy attendance of 32,812.

Whether the Nationals end up being a serious contender for Soto’s services remains to be seen, though they did offer him a reported 15-year, $440 million extension in 2022 that he turned down before being traded to the Padres.

They have an emerging young core — including top prospect Dylan Crews making his MLB debut on Monday — and seemingly have plenty of room to spend if ownership has the appetite for it. 

For now, Soto arrived back in the nation’s capital in the midst of a career year.

While it has been somewhat overshadowed by another historic season from Aaron Judge, Soto has reaped the benefits of hitting in front of the likely AL MVP, entering Monday batting .299 with a 1.034 OPS and a career-high 37 home runs. 

Soto’s 7.8 fWAR was the highest of any season of his career — his most dominant year came in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign — and trailed only Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. 

“In a lot of ways, he’s probably still scratching the surface of who he’s becoming as a player, and that’s scary considering the success he’s already had,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But I think we’re clearly seeing now still a young man and even just entering the physical prime of his career, but also now reaping the benefits of being an experienced player in the league for a while.” 

Making Soto’s season even more impressive is the fact that it has come in his contract year, the pressures of which take a toll on some players. But not Soto. 

“Again, 25 years old and it’s like not even a distraction for him,” Boone said. “You got the sense right away that this guy, his priorities are where they need to be. They’re on being the best player he can be and he’s about winning. He’s shown us that from jump street in spring training. He really connected with his teammates. For him, it’s about winning baseball games every day. He knows he’s an integral part of that and needs to be an integral part of that. He handles the things he needs to on a daily basis.” 

Soto, who spent plenty of time pregame holding court with his former coaches, staffers and teammates, is beloved here in part because he helped the Nationals win that World Series in 2019. 

The right fielder was asked about the similarities between that team and the one he is currently on while chasing another title. 

“The good energy and the vibes we have in here — I would say nothing is going to be like what we had on the Nationals in 2019, but definitely this is really close to what we had back then,” Soto said. “We all get along together very well, we’re playing hard, we’re coming in here and everybody wants to at the end of the day. That’s what matters. It doesn’t matter anything else. It’s not about the money or anything. We come in here to play baseball and win games.”