Soto not ready for sensational season to end

DENVER - As the rest of his teammates look forward to the physical and mental rest that awaits them following today's season finale, Juan Soto just wants to keep playing more baseball.

Never mind that the 19-year-old has played in 153 total games this season between the minors and majors, a workload far beyond anything he's ever experienced. He's still going strong straight through this final weekend, and as he worked in the cage before Saturday's game with Kevin Long he suggested to his hitting coach that he's not ready for this to end.

"Let's play another month," Soto said he told Long. "Why not?"

Nothing like a little youthful exuberance to overcome the physical and mental tolls of a long baseball season. But given how well he continues to play, it's hard to fault Soto for wanting to find a way to keep things going.

With another fantastic performance during Saturday's 12-2 win over the Rockies, Soto certainly kept his remarkable rookie season going. He went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer, four RBIs and a walk.

That home run was Soto's 22nd of the season, matching Bryce Harper for the second-most ever hit by a major league teenager. Only Tony Conigliaro, with 24 in 1964, ever hit more before turning 20.

Soto recently became aware of his standing in that category, and it motivated him.

"Since they put me on the list, yeah," he said. "I wanted to be there. I wanted to be with those Hall of Fame guys and stuff. Keep climbing until the final (game) and let's see what happens."

Soto enters today's finale batting .294 with 22 homers, 70 RBIs, a .407 on-base percentage, .521 slugging percentage and .928 OPS in only 115 major league games. Unless he gets 12 plate appearances today, he'll fall just shy of qualifying for the league leaderboard, but his OPS ranks behind only expected National League MVP Christian Yelich (.998).

Then consider what Soto did before he was called up to the big leagues on May 20. If you combine his stats from the minors and majors, he's hitting .313 with 36 homers, 122 RBIs, a .421 on-base percentage, .584 slugging percentage and 1.005 OPS in 153 total games.

Soto may be wrapping up his regular season, but he's not entirely done playing yet. Asked if he planned to play winter ball in his native Dominican Republic, he mentioned that "it's going to be hard, because I'm going to Japan with MLB. Then I come back, I have to rest a little bit. It's too much baseball."

A team of MLB All-Stars is slated to travel to Japan in November for a six-game series against the Japanese national club. Eight players were announced as participants earlier this month, including Yelich, Ronald Acuña Jr., Yadier Molina and Rhys Hoskins, and it appears Soto is going to be joining that group for the trip.