Soto? Or Teoscar?
Edition #171
Intro:
I’ve been participating in lots of arguments lately about how the Dodgers should sign Soto over Teoscar. Today, we will be looking at both sides of the argument and deciding who the Dodgers should pick up in the end.
Let’s get it!
Soto vs Teoscar
Both sides have very good arguments. Hernandez has been so impactful for the Dodgers this season and could even come in a bit cheaper for the Dodgers, but Juan Soto is just so good.
Let’s take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each player.
Juan Soto:
Soto is one of the biggest offensive threats in baseball.
His career .946 OPS is the best of any player with at least 700 games played since 2018, when Soto began his career. If you lower the games to 500, Soto drops to third place behind Mike Trout (1.024) and Judge (.980).
This man also just does not want to miss a baseball game. Counting 2020, the only season where he hasn’t appeared in more than 150 games was in 2018 when he began his major league baseball career. This is especially helpful for the Dodgers, because, well, they can’t not get injured.
Soto is also a younger Freddie Freeman with a trait of getting on base a lot. He has a .421 on-base percentage, which is the highest for players that have played at least 500 games. Other than Soto, the only other players in the .400s would be Mike Trout and Freddie Freeman.
Soto isn’t just a contact hitter. He’s also one of the best power hitters in the game. He’s already had 3 30 home run seasons and is having his best power season yet with the Yankees this year, with 41 home runs. He’s also surpassed 200 homers.
Now, Soto’s only flaw is his defense and it’s all because he moved to right field (he was a gold glover in left field). MLB’s Statcast had him at minus-9 defensive runs saved in 2023, the third percentile.
Teoscar Hernandez:
Teoscar Hernandez has always been that power kind of guy, and he’s really shown that with the Dodgers, winning the HR Derby. But, what’s the problem with the power guys? They strike out a lot. That’s Teoscar Hernandez. Before coming to the Dodgers, that problem was a problem. After coming to the Dodgers, while it’s still a problem, he’s fixing it.
His batting run value is amazing this season as well as his slugging and hard-hit percentage. Whatever power guy he is, his sprint speed is also on the higher end. His best stat though is the barrel percentage, which is probably giving him all those home runs. Plus, his max exit velocity is in the top 9% of the MLB.
Here come the problems.
As I said, his K rates are improving, but they’re still bad. He’s in the bottom 10% of the MLB this year and in the 10th percentile for the K% which is incredibly poor. His whiff percentage is in the 6th percentile, even worse, and worst of them all, his outs above average is -10, which is in the 2nd percentile.
Before I go any further, I want to know what you think about this. Based on the info I gave you above, who would you pick? Teoscar Hernandez? Or Juan Soto?
Let’s look at this for a second.
The difference here is crazy. Everything goes Soto’s way for the batting part of the game. Even for the defense, Teo isn’t an improvement at all. Both of them have played for 6 years. In those years, Teo has 29 errors while Soto has 21.
This is why I say the Dodgers need to go the way of Juan Soto instead of going the way of Teoscar Hernandez. One other factor I didn’t even write in here would be age. If you miss a chance to go after Soto now, you’re never going to get him on your team ever again. He’s signing a 12-year deal that will lock him up for the rest of his career. Soto is also only 25 years old (about to turn 26).
Meanwhile, Teoscar is 31 and about to turn 32. You have to expect him to regress in the next couple of years. Imagine wasting an opportunity on Soto, and using it on Teoscar who’s going to leave in another 3-5 years.
It’s simple. Sign Juan Soto.
