Why did Juan Soto turn down contract?

Juan José Soto Pacheco (born October 25, 1998) is a Dominican Major League Baseball outfielder for the Washington Nationals (MLB).

In 2015, Soto joined the Nationals as an international free agent. In 2018, the year of his MLB debut, he finished in second place for the NL Rookie of the Year Award. He played a significant role in the Nationals’ first World Series victory in 2019.

With a batting average of.351, he won the National League hitting title in 2020.

In July 2015, Soto agreed to terms with the Washington Nationals as an unrestricted foreign free agent. With the Gulf Coast League Nationals in the Gulf Coast League’s rookie division, he made his professional debut in 2016, and after hitting 368 with five home runs and 32 runs batted in, he was voted the league’s MVP (RBIs).

He was promoted to the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League’s Auburn Doubledays in September 2016 in time for the season’s final few games.

He played with the Doubledays in six games, going 9 for 21 (.429) with three doubles and an RBI. With five home runs and 32 RBIs, he had a batting average of.368 at the end of the 2016 campaign.

The first person born in 1998 to participate in a big-league game, Soto made his major-league debut on May 20, 2018, making him the youngest player in the major leagues at 19 years, 207 days.

At Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., he entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers and was struck out swinging by right-handed relief pitcher Erik Goeddel.

The following day, Soto started in left field for the first time in the major leagues against the San Diego Padres at Nationals Park. On the first pitch of his first at-bat of the game, Soto connected on his first major league hit, a 422 foot (129 meters) opposite-field three-run home run off of Robbie Erlin.

Soto stepped back out for a curtain call from the spectators after crossing the bases and going back to the dugout. He became the first adolescent to smash a home run in a major league game since Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper did so at age 19 in 2012.

He also became the youngest player in franchise history to do so.

Why did Juan Soto turn down contract?

Soto has turned down two significant offers from the Nationals this season; prior to the summer lockout, he turned down a 13-year, $350 million contract.

According to Rosenthal, Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, “usually encourages his clients to determine their prices on the market.”

Soto is expected to become a free agent when he turns 26 and may look for a deal worth more than $500 million.