Gregory Soto had a rough time in the field during his early MLB days. As a rookie with the Tigers, his struggles with throwing and fielding were hard to ignore. The numbers show a lot of errors despite having few opportunities. Watching the footage just confirms it. On one play with the bases loaded, he fumbles a throw home that sails badly. Another clip shows him completely miss a routine grounder. It’s the kind of stuff that makes fans nervous every time a ball comes his way.
Despite the mistakes, there were a few flashes of competence. After a miscue, Soto bounced back with a clean double play and pulled off a tricky spinning throw in another clip. It seems like he can handle plays when he doesn’t have too much time to think. The common thread through all the errors is an awkward glove-to-throw transition and inconsistent mechanics. If teams weren’t bunting on him in 2020, they might have missed an easy advantage. Soto might have the arm for the mound, but once the ball comes back to him, things get shaky.