At Only 25, Juan Soto Surpasses Derek Jeter, Joins Alex Rodriguez Amongst Yankees Greats to Claim This Unique Feat

Juan Soto keeps making history. He has done it all, but the Dominican superstar knows there are even more worlds to conquer. The fact that he has already joined another famous New York Yankees player in an elite club is just another example of his brilliance. Last night, while the Bronx Bombers won against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Childish Bambino got his 500th RBI! At just 25, that’s a historical occurrence. 

But how significant, exactly? Before last night, only 20 players had touched that number before their 26th birthday, a record held since 1950! And Soto has just become the 21st man to ever do that. Moreover, what’s even more interesting is that out of all the players since 1977, Soto is the 7th youngest to achieve this mind-boggling stat. 

At 25 years and 175 days, Soto ranks behind Miguel Cabrera, Ken Griffy Jr., Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, and Adrian Beltre. That’s quite an elite company to be in. But then again, this isn’t anything new for Soto; his career is already exhibiting numbers that would place him in the upper echelon of baseball players, and that too at such a young age!

However, the best part isn’t that Soto has joined this list; it’s how high he can climb. According to Stathead, the highest RBI a player has had before their 26th birthday was 678 by Alex Rodriguez. Following him is Mickey Mantle, who had 669 RBIs. A-Rod did it in 891 games; Soto has just played 798 yet. With an entire season to go, could Soto touch the top 10? (10th-ranked Ruben Siera has 586 RBI)

As for the Yankees, this is another reason they’d love to turn Soto’s temporary stay into a long-term residence. But that won’t be easy, especially if famous analyst Buster Olney’s prediction holds.

Will Juan Soto’s stay with the New York Yankees become a long-term thing?

ESPN’s Buster Olney has speculated that while the Yankees aim to retain Soto, other teams are interested too. But out of all those squads, the two New York teams seem like a natural fit. According to Olney, “While there might be other teams involved in the chase, all he really needs to push salary benchmarks is to be the object of a Yankees versus Mets bidding war.”

Furthermore, Olney also predicted that Scott Boras might aim for a $500 million valuation for Soto. Certainly, with epic numbers like this, Soto’s chances of getting that amount are quite high.

Would it be surprising if this grows even bigger as we near his free agency? It surely won’t. However, until his free agency, Soto is a Yankee, and that’s all the Yankee Nation cares about right now.