San Diego Padres star Juan Soto has been one of the best hitters in baseball for years now. Base running, on the other hand, has never exactly been his strong suit.
An example of that is an absolutely brutal base-running error from him that gave fans a good laugh.
Soto walked for the third time in Wednesday’s game in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds. Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts followed him at the plate and laced what should have been a single into right field.
However, the Padres attempted a hit-and-run on the play that ended up going horribly.
Soto thought that Reds right fielder Stuart Fairchild had caught the ball on his diving attempt to make the play. In reality, the ball bounced into his glove, but Soto returned to first base as he thought the play was made. This made for an easy force out for the Reds at second base on what should have been a base hit for Bogaerts.
That has to be an awful feeling pic.twitter.com/lRRui5pdr7
— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) May 3, 2023
Soto will definitely be kicking himself for this brutal error, and the MLB world certainly got a laugh out of his blunder.
Xander Bogaerts had a single until Juan Soto did something about it pic.twitter.com/7SFNinZp5i
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 3, 2023
https://twitter.com/FriarRigoSD/status/1653883724818440192
WHY JUAN SOTO
WHY pic.twitter.com/zY5h9xmwwY
— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) May 3, 2023
Juan Soto with a weird base running error pic.twitter.com/yaQ2UU29sF
— Pack the Brew (@PacktheBrew) May 3, 2023
Juan Soto’s brain on the Base Paths pic.twitter.com/otcPMiZmeC
— Devine Sports Gospel (@DevineGospel) May 3, 2023
This error completely halted the Padres’ momentum in the inning, failing to score in the bottom of the fifth.
Fortunately for the Padres, Soto would make up for this mistake in a big way. He came to the plate again in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded and brought everyone home on a three-run double to right field.
Juan's doing a little spring cleaning.@JuanSoto25_ | #BringTheGold pic.twitter.com/gxe0QCv8BU
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 3, 2023
The Padres would go on to win this game 7-1 in large part thanks to Soto’s impressive performance at the plate. More importantly, it looks like Soto is rounding into form. He has hit .450 in his last six games with five extra-base hits.
https://twitter.com/hgomez27/status/1653901383727296514
[Talking Friars on Twitter] Photo Credit: Bally Sports
