SEATTLE - It's been one hell of a week for New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto. The Dominican had his second multi-HR game of the season -both in the last five days- in a 7-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on May 22.
It's been an amazing first season for Soto with the Bronx Bombers. After being traded from the San Diego Padres, the Dominican is hitting .313/.409/.569 with 13 dingers and 40 RBI in the season.
His first home run of the night came, a 414-feet blast, put the Yankees up by four runs while his second one, a solo dinger in the bottom of the sixth, traveled 369 feet and had an exit velocity of 107.2 MPH.
A player known for his firepower, Soto's bat has been on fire for the past week going 8-for-19 in his last five games. His multi-homer game against the Mariners now put him at 19 such games in his career. According to Sarah Langs from MLB, only Hall of Famers Mel Ott (24) and Eddie Mathews (21) had more multi-HR games than the Dominican before turning 26 years old. Soto doesn't turn 26 until October.
Despite being on his first season as a Yankee, Soto is already a crowd favorite. He was serenated with "M-V-P" chants from the Bronx faithful as he cleared the fences for a 13th time this season. "I just got to turn around and they go crazy," he said. "I know it's a lot of Dominicans. They all want me to say hi. I tried to say hi to everybody, but I got to be focused in the game, too."
According to Vegas Insider, Soto is currently the favorite among multiple sportsbooks to take home this year's AL MVP award. The last Yankee to win the award was current team captain Aaron Judge after a historic 2022 season.
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