A year before he grew a few inches, improved his physique and became a member of the Washington Nationals, Elian Soto received pivotal advice.
He had just finished batting practice in his native Dominican Republic in front of longtime Nationals scout Modesto Ulloa. His famous older brother, now-Padres outfielder Juan Soto, was there offering swing pointers as needed. Elian Soto was thriving as the younger sibling of one of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars. He was following his brother’s routine down to the smallest detail. But Ulloa felt compelled to remind the younger Soto of one thing.
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“Juan is Juan and you are Elian,” Ulloa told him in Spanish. “Juan possibly could earn more than enough money to help support you for your whole life. But one day you’re going to want to differentiate yourself.”
A year later, Elian Soto is finally set to burnish his own unique path in baseball. After one year of being committed to join his brother’s former organization, Soto officially signed with the Nationals at the start of the 2023 international signing period last Sunday.
Over the course of the past 13 months, Soto went from backing out of a reported agreement with the Mets worth a modest $50,000 to receiving a $225,000 bonus from Washington. The Nationals made a six-figure investment in large part because of the strides Soto made, adding muscle to his frame and improving his approach at the plate.
Soto’s changing physique — he was listed on a Nationals news release as 6-foot-1 and 182 pounds — was visible to Ulloa during his visits with Soto throughout the last year. But offense is where Soto made the most important strides. Soto was not considered among the premium talents in this year’s signing class, perhaps explaining a deal that reportedly includes a $200,000 studies bonus. At the time he agreed to the deal last January, his left-handed swing still hadn’t developed to the point where it was easy to project even gap power to all fields. But during the past year, under the combined tutelage of Jorge Mejia and his longtime hitting coach Rafael Zapata, Soto’s bat path improved, allowing him to show more raw power at the plate.
Ulloa was impressed to see Soto, 17, took his words to heart but the young prospect’s progress didn’t come as a shock. Ulloa has known the Soto family since before the Nationals signed Juan to what was then a Nationals’ franchise-record bonus for a Latin American teenager. Ulloa knew the strong work ethic Soto inherited from his father, who once molded his employment around the baseball schedule of his eldest son.
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Juan Sr. had been able to dedicate a lot of his free time to helping his eldest son by avoiding office jobs. But the Nationals’ $1.5-million investment in Juan Soto in 2015 enabled Juan Sr. to have a more hands-on approach with his youngest child. By the time the crucial final year of Elian Soto’s amateur development arrived last winter, the two of them were following a finely tuned routine.
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Elian Soto and his father spent their weekdays during most of the last year getting up in their Santo Domingo home at 5 in the morning to train. They’d travel together to the Dominican capital city’s sprawling, old athletic complex known as Centro Olímpico for 90 minutes of agility, strength and leg work. Then they’d drive 25 miles to Monte Plata, a small rural neighborhood about 45 minutes away, to practice baseball skills at PNY Academy. The facility is run by Mejia, a former Nationals minor-league hitting coach Juan Soto has worked with throughout his career, and a staff of former pro players and coaches.
After three to four hours of training, the Sotos would return to Santo Domingo so Elian could spend a couple of hours lifting weights with the same trainer who ran his early morning drills.
Through it all, Elian said in a phone call that he “tried to guide myself by (Ulloa’s) words.”
“The ones who follow the advice, those are the kinds of players I believe in,” Ulloa said in Spanish in a phone call. “(Elian) is one of them. He is one of those kids that if you need to talk to him, he’ll look you in the eyes and listen to what you’re saying. Then he wants to put into action what you’re asking of him.”
A big-league brother showing him the ropes inevitably has helped, too. It isn’t unusual to see Elian, who also bats left-handed, in Instagram posts training alongside and receiving instruction from Juan, who championed Elian going to the Nationals over the Mets last year. Even their mannerisms in the box — down to an occasional signature Soto shuffle by Elian — are similar. Ulloa believes Elian will surprise teams who overlooked him.
“Not because he’s Juan Soto’s brother,” Ulloa said. “But because I’ve seen that he wants to be independent and he values the hard work he has to do.”
(Top photo of Elian Soto: Maria Torres)
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