The Bronx Faithful is abuzz with excitement following the arrival of Juan Soto in New York. The Dominican slugger will not only increase the hitting prowess of the New York Yankees. but will also prove to be a tremendous defensive addition to their squad. Who’d have thought that the Bombers struggling so massively last year due to their outfield would suddenly turn themselves into a collection of genuine game-changers?

The Bronx GM Brian Cashman had made it abundantly clear that he needed two left-handed outfielders this offseason. Now he has three, and they have already made a big difference in the underlying stats of the Pinstripes.

The huge WAR impact of Juan Soto in the New York Yankees

Aaron Judge’s amazingness inflates the Yankees’ stats. When the offseason started, the Bronx outfield ranked 4th in total WAR across the league. No doubt, it’s a great number, but when one looks a little deeper, the real picture arrives. As MLB.com reported, after eliminating Judge’s Right Field contribution, the rank’s WAR rank fell to 27th! 

Perhaps that huge drop is why the Yankees were so adamant about getting outfielders. Now that they have gotten Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo, and Trent Grisham, things are like night and day. As it stands right now, the Yankees now rank first in overall outfield with or without Aaron Judge. In one offseason, the Bombers turned their 27th-ranked outfield into the top-of-the-line one.

As per FanGraphs, Soto, in 2023, had a WAR of 5.5, he was 13th in the league and Judge was 16th with 5.3. Last year the only Yankee other than Judge in the top 20 was their ace Gerrit Cole in 19th with 5.2. Their other outfielders are nowhere to be seen in this list. The presence of Juan Soto may have changed the team’s overall vibes, but he has also given them a necessary edge.

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It’s quite unlikely that only one player can bring forth such a case, but it has happened in this case. The Yankees are a team where nearly every player underperformed, making a player with an average WAR stand out. So, an elite player like Soto is just on a different level altogether. His impact on the team would be mouthwatering.

The impact that the Childish Bambino will have in the Bronx

Last season no Yankees lefty with over 200 plate appearances had an above average production. The OBP of their lefties was .295, the lowest in the league and also their weakest since 1990. Juan Soto is a game-changer for them in this regard. In 2023, he had an OBP of .410, the third-highest in the league. He has consistently been on the top 5 of this list his entire career. Last year was supposedly a quiet year for Soto and even then his OPS+ was 158. No Yankees lefty has touched that number for years.

So in short, Soto has introduced a level of quality to the Bronx squad that has been absent for over a generation. Will this help them win their 28th World Series title next year?

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