Soto focuses on improving defense at every new major league venue

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Nationals' youngest player, Juan Soto, has demonstrated in his first couple of months in the big leagues that he has a knowledge and maturity for hitting that is certainly beyond his years.

At 19 years of age, Soto has hit the ball to the opposite field for power, and has the awareness to take a walk in high leverage situations when a pitcher is struggling to throw strikes.

Instead of just swinging away, like most young players might do, Soto has the presence of mind to understand game situations and realize that baserunners are extremely valuable to a rally too.

Part of the learning process for Soto in becoming a complete major league baseball player is not only his tremendous hitting ability, but also the focus the coaching staff puts on his defense in the outfield. Soto has done a very nice job of listening to his coaches and putting that knowledge to work in actual games.

Manager Davey Martinez has seen Soto make adjustments in each game as he works to get better at playing left field.

"(Sunday night) he ran after the ball and took his eye off, went back, found the wall, turned around and was able to make an adjustment and that was good, good to see," Martinez said. "The kid works. He works every day. He loves playing and he wants to get better."

Martinez should know because he played outfield for 16 years in the big leagues, including a pair of seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

As they do at every venue that Soto plays in his rookie season, the coaching staff, including Martinez, and especially outfield coordinator Bobby Henley, take him out to the field before the series begins to get the young player acclimated to what they might experience at a new park.

"Yeah, we're going to take him out and just hit him balls," Martinez said about getting Soto acclimated to Tropicana Field prior to game one. "We are going to take him out and hit him balls, let him get used to the cat walk. There is a couple of dead areas which I have experienced before that you cannot take your eye off the ball, especially in the gaps, you will lose it.

"We want to make sure we cover all that stuff and get him on turf again, balls will come out a little quicker. He's going to go out there and work with Bobby and make sure he's ready."

Henley got specific during pregame Monday with what Soto would see in Tropicana Field. Soto made a nice play on a fly ball in game one for the out in left field.

"Every stadium presents a challenge," Henley said. "I think sure there are elements here with the cat walks and lights in areas where normally there is not, the color of the roof. And if you go back and you are tracking the ball and you take your eyes and you run to a spot where you think it's going to be and you try to pick up the ball, making sure you can hone back in on it, it's an element."

Henley said their philosophy, as a coaching staff with rookies and talented prospects who are making their first appearance at the major league level, is to bring them along slowly and not overwhelm them when they first arrive to a new environment.

"I think the first thing is, any time you get a player from the minor leagues for the first time, is you want to try to keep them in a routine that they have been in through the course of the season," Henley explained. "Because everything is changing around them, the stadiums are all different. There is a lot more people. As everything changes around them you want to keep something consistent and their routine is the biggest part of that."

The Nationals have a plan they have installed for Soto and all of their outfielders with their minor league coordinator and former major league outfielder Gary Thurman.

"We want to stay consistent with what he has done in the minor leagues," Henley said. "Gary Thurman is the outfield coordinator there. We worked together in the spring. So we had a chance to talk about him a little bit there, along with Davey, because he's an outfielder too."

Henley said their focus was getting Soto ready for what he would encounter at Tropicana Field, similar to what he saw when the club was in Toronto at Rogers Centre in mid-June. Every stadium has different quirks in the left field corner.

"Today we will got out like we normally do and hit some balls into the left field corner into the wall," Henley said. "We will watch how they play, how they come off the wall on the turf. How bouncy the turf is like in Toronto. Just making sure he understands what to expect out there before the ball is hit. Keeping him sharp with his throwing to bases, his first steps.

"But there's also the element of things he's going to learn as the game is going on. We have conversations. But you just don't want to overwhelm him with a bunch of information. You give him a little bit at a time. And you give him things that he needs to know: the ground rules, how the ball plays off the grass."

After spending a month with Soto in the big leagues, similar to the thoughts we see from the hitting staff, Henley has noticed that the young Dominican outfielder is a special and unique player, and there is a reason the 19-year-old is already so good at his craft.

You can see the difference in Soto's defense from when he first arrived. Earlier, he might of turned the wrong way on a ball or went back to slowly on a hot shot. Now with each passing chance in the outfield, Soto appears to have a better track on fly balls and his foot work is improving. There is an element of smoothness to his defense. He also demonstrated Monday the ability to get the ball in quickly to hold runners to one base.

"One, he's got the maturity where he has a baseball IQ," Henley said. "If he does make a mistake, he learns from it, he moves on. But I think he understands how do I go about doing things to where I put myself in a position to be successful more often so I can limit the mistakes that I make? He is like a sponge.

"He's always willing to talk baseball. He loves to work, and that's a big deal when it comes to someone being really good at something, is that he likes to work. So, all the ingredients for him to be a solid, above average defender is there.

"He's fun to watch. He's really fun to watch."