Juan Soto finds himself in the crosshairs of Major League Baseball’s latest old school-vs-new school brouhaha after taking Braves reliever Will Smith deep Monday night, but not without directing a long stare back at the pitcher before trotting the bases.
After the Nationals’ phenom watched his artwork sail into the seats in left-center, he flipped his bat, putting the button on a series of acts that enraged Smith, who was shouting profanities at Soto.
Soto Staredown pic.twitter.com/wp6KpDAbJm
— OPT (@OnePursuitTakes) August 18, 2020
It sure seems as though something might have transpired before this sequence to light the fuse, and Dave Martinez confirmed as much after the game, saying Smith had said something to provoke Soto earlier in the game.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo provided the background during his weekly appearance with The Sports Junkies Wednesday on 106.7 The Fan, presented exclusively by Burke & Herbert Bank.
“The thing with Will Smith and Juan Soto, who is one of the nicest, most respected young players that I’ve ever been around, was predicated the inning before by Will Smith saying something to Juan Soto as he was warming up to face Adam Eaton the inning before,” Rizzo explained.
Soto homered in the top of the ninth to put Washington up 6-3 over Atlanta. The inning prior, when Smith entered the game with two outs and Washington leading 5-3 in the top of the eighth, is where this dust-up grew legs, as Eaton would be the final out.
As Scott Allen observed in The Washington Post, footage from both clubs’ respective regional networks – made available at the onset of the following day’s broadcasts – revealed that, as Smith was warming up in the eighth, Soto stood on the warning track behind home plate, watching Smith’s warm-up tosses – extending the on-deck circle, as it were, to get a better view of the incoming pitches.
According to Allen, “Cameras then appeared to show Smith shouting ‘get the f--- out of there’ at Soto and gesturing for him to move closer to the on-deck circle.”
“So that’s where that traces back to,” Rizzo said. “He said something to Juan Soto. Juan Soto took him about 430 the opposite way.”
“I thought he did absolutely nothing wrong and was very, very respectful and impressive in the way he handled that, considering what happened the inning before,” Rizzo concluded.
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