Juan Soto, the prodigiously talented and charmingly theatrical slugger, has now become the highest-paid player in the history of baseball, having agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal confirmed. The deal, first reported by the New York Post, includes a $75 million signing bonus.
The deal will set new financial paradigms for the sport. Soto, who turned 26 in October, received the largest total package in addition to the largest average annual salary, $51 million. He eclipsed the records set last winter by Shohei Ohtani. Because Ohtani deferred the overwhelming majority of a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the present-day value of the deal was closer to $460 million, with an average annual value of $46 million.
Now Soto sits alone atop that financial mountain. The size of the deal cannot be considered a shock. Soto entered this offseason as the No. 1 player on The Athletic’s Free Agent Big Board. He was projected by The Athletic’s Tim Britton to receive a 13-year, $611 million deal.
After being traded twice already in his career, he can polish his Hall of Fame résumé during the next decade in Flushing. In his seven seasons in the majors, Soto has drawn comparisons to Ted Williams while accumulating an impressive array of hardware. He is a four-time All Star and a five-time Silver Slugger. At 20, he helped the Washington Nationals win the World Series. A year later, he won the batting title. In his lone season as a member of the New York Yankees, Soto hit 41 homers with 109 RBIs and a .989 OPS. He swatted the home run that delivered the Yankees to the franchise’s first World Series since 2009.
At the plate, Soto prides himself on patience. Since his debut in 2018, Soto leads all hitters in on-base percentage (.421). He finished first in walks in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He infuses his plate appearances with drama. Soto does not just take pitches. He sneers at them, sliding through the batter’s box, staring at the pitcher as his face registers disdain or amusement, depending on the quality of the pitch. The gesture has become known as the Soto Shuffle, a bit of exhibitionism that often precedes hard contact.
His patience benefited him as he plotted his free agency. For Soto, the contract represents the culmination of a wager he made, with the guidance of his representative Scott Boras, on himself two years ago. In the summer of 2022, the Nationals offered Soto a 15-year, $440 million extension. The deal would have topped Mike Trout’s 12-year, $426.5 million extension with the Los Angeles Angels in total dollars, but not average annual value. The franchise had run aground after winning a championship in 2019. Soto did not want to commit the rest of his career to a last-place club.
After Soto rejected the deal, the Nationals decided to trade him. He spent the summer of 2022 and all of 2023 as a member of the San Diego Padres. Looking to trim payroll for 2024, the Padres dealt Soto to the Yankees. He proved to be an ideal complement to fellow slugger Aaron Judge. Judge collected his second American League MVP in November; Soto finished third in the voting.
(Photo of Soto: Harry How / Getty Images)
