Speaking to reporters shortly after the club made the franchise-altering trade for Juan Soto (and Josh Bell), Davey Martinez got emotional and even felt a little nostalgic. san diego padres By the August 2, 2022 trade deadline.
Soto made his major league debut in 2018 at age 19, and the team won a championship in Martinez’s first season off the bench as captain in the nation’s capital. world series Since they played together in 2019, when Martinez was 22 years old at the time and Soto, now 25, was actually traded (along with Bell) in a blockbuster deal that brought back five top prospects from the Padres. It’s understandable that you had a similar reaction. ‘ system (CJ Abrams, Mackenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, James Wood, Jarlin Susannah), and major his league bats (Luke Voit).
“Juan, I’ve known Juan for a very long time,” Martinez said.
“I remember the first time I met him, we took him to a spring training game, and the first pitch thrown to him, he swung at 55- I think”[foot] There was a slider in the dirt and I thought there was a young kid there. He stepped out of the box, shook his head, and on the next pitch he doubled the ball to left-center field. And I said, “Wow, that’s a little different.” And then we got him back and did pretty much the same thing, he worked a good count, drove another ball into right-center field and hit another double. Since then, he started to like me. And I said, “If you can learn how to walk,” I said, “Your swing is good, you have a chance to play here.” And he said, “I can do that.”
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“And sure enough, as we all know today, what he became. I mean, he’s a great kid who grew up really, really fast. I didn’t want someone to speak for me, I wanted to speak for myself, so I taught myself how to speak English in a very short period of time.”
Not long after the trade, Martinez and his club faced Soto and the Padres, and the manager was asked how he was coping after seeing his one-time charge in the opposing club’s dugout.
“I can sit here and talk about Juan all day long. You all know what kind of player he is and what kind of young man he is. Personally, I will miss him. “Just because he always played right field” for us,” Martinez said. “I think the fans are going to miss him too, but we’ve got some pretty good players for him and I’m continuing to do well, so that’s exciting for me as well.
“We have some young, young, young players that we’re looking forward to.”
A year and a half later, two of the players acquired from the Padres (Abrams and Gore) are on the Nationals’ major league roster, and those young prospects (No. 2 Wood, No. 8 Hassell III, No. 8 Susana) are on the Nationals’ major league roster. ) are also listed. .12), is near the top of MLB Pipeline’s list of organizational rankings, working his way up there, and is still being asked about Nats skipper…Soto.
When Martinez met with reporters at the winter meetings earlier this month, one reporter asked how he thought Soto would handle playing in New York if the rumors of a contract hold were true.
Q. Do you have any doubts about whether he can handle a place like New York?
Dave Martinez: No.
Q. why?
Dave Martinez: He loves playing the game of baseball. I’ll tell you a story, when I first met him, I just asked him, I said, Hey, what motivates you, what drives you? What is there? And the first thing he says is, “I love baseball.” That’s all I want to do.
So he’ll handle it well.
Asked about his experience managing Soto from 2018 to 2022, Martinez simply replied, “I love him.”
“I’ve said this ever since I’ve known the kid. I love him. He’s a competitor. He’s one of the purest hitters in this game. He’s a game changer. I have always wished him luck.
“No matter who gets him, if San Diego decides to keep him, they know they got a good player.
“But wherever he goes, they’re going to get a good player.”
Looking back, how does he evaluate his contract with the Padres?
“Looking at it now? I think we did everything well,” Martinez said.
“Yeah. But as you build it up, you don’t know that. We just knew what we had at hand. I looked at C.J., I saw what he’s been doing, and I thought about the James that’s coming up. You look at Wood, you look at these young players that we’ve acquired for him, and we’re going to be OK.”
Barring an extension in New York, Soto is set to become a free agent this winter…if the 15-year, $440 million offer he turned down comes back on the table next winter, he could return to the nation’s capital and join the players. Did you come on a trade so you could play with him?