2023 Padres Season Review: Juan Soto

2023 Regular Season Statistics

5.5 fWAR, 162 G, .275 AVG, .410 OBP, .519 SLG, 155 wRC+, 97 R, 109 RBI, 35 HR

Positives From This Season

In what some would consider a little bit of a disappointing season for Juan Soto, he still ended up being a top ten offensive player in baseball. He led the Padres in runs scored, home runs, RBI, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and total bases. The former Nationals star played in every single game this season, which is becoming more and more of a rarity around the league so props to him for that.

Soto is entering his walk year and the Padres are reportedly trying to trim payroll this coming season so of course there’s going to be talk about potentially trading Soto to get something back before he enters free agency. However, what kind of message would that send to the fans and players in the clubhouse if AJ Preller decided to move one of the best players in baseball before what’s supposed to be one of their ‘all-in’ years?

Negatives From This Season

Soto’s defense still was not good. He finished in the third percentile (really bad) in outs above average, according to Baseball Savant. But trust me—the Padres didn’t acquire him for his defense.

His offense wasn’t good in a couple months this season, as he hit .202 in March/April and had a season worst .713 OPS in August.

Soto also admitted that the team was quitting when they get down in games, which should have never been said because while I like the honesty, the quitting mentality should’ve never occurred with how much talent was on that roster in 2023.

This was a wasted year, partly because the Padres as a whole wasted one of the three years they have of one of the best offensive talents we’ve ever seen.