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Jeff PassanESPN
LOS ANGELES — If Juan Soto If he is traded, the team who acquires him will not only be getting the best hitter in baseball. It will also acquire the reigning Home Run Derby champion.
Soto, the amazing 23-year-old who had an All-Star week interrupted by questions about the future of his relationship with the Washington Nationals after he turned down a $440 million contract extension, pounded home runs to all areas of Dodger Stadium and held off star rookie Julio Rodríguez.
Soto, a Dominican Republic native, needed 19 home runs in order to defeat him in the finals. Soto struck 15 during regulation time and completed the task with over 30 seconds left in bonus time.
It was a spoiler for a previous episode of J-Rod Show.
Rodriguez, the 21-year old precocious Rodriguez Seattle Mariners Outfielder, attacked the field Monday night, removing the two-time champion and smashing 81 home runs.
Rodriguez, the first hitter in the night, set the tone for the show with 32 home runs in the matchup against him in the first round. Corey Seager. Rodriguez, the No. 6 seed, Rodríguez went first in all three rounds, setting paces that his opponents couldn’t match.
It was included Pete AlonsoThe New York Mets slugger who won the last two competitions in 2019 and 2021 but mustered only 23 home runs in the semifinals, well short of Rodríguez’s 31.
Soto arrived in Cleveland with questions after turning down a $440 million, 15-year contract extension from Nationals. But he was already locked in. Jose Ramirez In the first round Albert Pujols In the semifinals.
Pujols, aged 42, is in the final season of his career — and he upset Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber He beat him in overtime in the first round. He could not keep up to Soto, whose 482-foot homerun in the first round was his longest of the night.