Juan Soto had one of the best seasons by a teenager in MLB history

Juan Soto is going to finish first or second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, announced on Monday evening (6 p.m. ET, MLB Network), but whether he wins the award or not the Washington Nationals outfielder put together one of the great seasons by a teenager in major league history.

The top three finishers in the BBWAA vote for Rookie of the Year — announced on Nov. 5 — are Soto, Braves wunderkind Ronald Acuña Jr., and Dodgers ace-in-training Walker Buehler.

Acuña entered 2018 as the consensus top prospect in baseball and very much lived up to the hype, putting together a wonderful season for the NL East-winning Braves at the tender age of 20. Soto had very comparable numbers, and did so at only 19.

Acuña will probably win the award. Atlanta made the playoffs with Acuña leading the way, and he was especially hot in the second half. It seems like he has the narrative on his side. But Soto was special in his own right, and also in a historical sense.

Soto was a highly-rated prospect, just not at the very top of the preseason lists like Acuña. The highest pre-2018 rank for Soto was 22nd by Baseball Prospectus, and he was ranked 29th by MLB.com, and 56th by Baseball America.

The Nationals were in desperate need of help, and when Howie Kendrick suffered an Achilles injury on May 19 Soto got the call after just eight games in Double-A.

Soto homered in his very first start, and defied the laws of time by homering in a game before he was even in the majors. The latter came on June 18, when the Nationals and Yankees completed a game that was previously suspended. Soto homered after the game was resumed, technically giving him a May 15 home run, which was four days before he was called to the majors.

Despite having such limited experience against advanced pitching, Soto proved consistent throughout his first major league campaign. He had an OPS of .908 or better in four of his five months, with his worst month a very productive .255/.402/.398 mark in August. Soto had a .517 slugging percentage and .929 OPS before the All-Star break, and a .517 slugging and .918 OPS after.

“I’ve been doing this a long time. Hall of Famers, MVPs — he’s as gifted as any of them,” Nationals hitting coach Kevin Long told MLB.com during the season. “That’s as high a compliment as I can give somebody. I really think he’s that special.”

Soto’s season was good enough to earn him a trip to represent MLB during a series of exhibition games in Japan in November. He is amazing folks overseas, too.

It’s important to note that Soto didn’t turn 20 until after the season. His 2018 was one of the best years by a teenager in MLB history. Soto came eight plate appearances shy of qualifying for the leaderboard, but even getting 400 plate appearances as a teenager is something that has happened only 18 times in major league history. In the last 50 years, the only ones to do so were Hall of Famers Robin Yount (1975) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1989), plus Edgar Renteria (1996) and Soto’s outfield teammate and now free agent Bryce Harper (2012).

Soto hit 22 home runs this season. The only teenager to hit more was Tony Conigliaro, who hit 24 in 1964. Harper also hit 22 home runs in 2012, but did so in 103 more plate appearances than Soto.

Soto has the highest OPS (.923), OPS+ (142), wRC+ (145) and most walks (79) by a teenager in MLB history (minimum 400 plate appearances), and he’s the first teenager ever with an on-base percentage of .400 or higher (.406).

In the last two decades the only rookies at any age with a .400 OBP are Albert Pujols (2001), Aaron Judge (2017) and Soto.

Anyway you slice it, Soto had a rookie season for the ages.