>defensively he's on par with Eaton and Goodwin.

Adam Eaton before he injured and re-injured himself was on the short list for best defensive OFs in baseball. Like right behind Heyward, Gardner, and Juan Soto.

Goodwin is not a particularly good OF. Like you would think since he runs decently and such, but nah.

Soto is raw but a pretty good athlete. I think he'll figure it out, but the best you can say about him right now is that he's not a liability and has some upside.

>his hitting numbers are slightly better than Bryce's too at
>the same stages of their careers. except Harper did work his
>way up to hitting lead off in his 10th game; he did bat 2nd
>tho'...which ain't too shabby.
>O

>yeah, yeah...i know, i know. small sample size. but if he
>continues, Juan Soto going to be a PROBLEM!!! especially if he
>can stay healthy. he's had some injuries, but he bounces back
>from 'em.

I get the sense that you know you're getting ahead of yourself, but I think it's important to reiterate that Bryce Harper basically had the greatest 19 year old season of all-time. By fWar and rWar he's first and even if you don't want to trust somebody's best guess about Mel Ott's defensive prowess at the Polo Grounds, he's top 3 with a bat along with Tony Conigliaro. And whenever it's a push against guys who played against white dudes with jobs in the winter and modern athletes, I'll give the nod to Bryce.

Soto has been really impressive. That 3 walk game in his second start shows crazy, crazy maturity. Maybe he is the truth. But I just want to point out that there has never been a 19 year old ballplayer who was more productive than Bryce Harper. Not Trout, not Mantle, A-Rod, Griffey Jr., Andruw Jones. Not a one.

Maybe Soto gets there. And the two greatest 19 year olds of all time played in the same OF together in SE. But at the same time, it's wild to think that Soto might not even be the best 19 year old ballplayer on the east coast with Vlad Jr. in New Hampshire.

That said, team started feasting on a soft part of the schedule, got some good momentum going into this Braves series. Some people were grumbling about not saving Scherzer for Atlanta, but I think it's way to early in the year not to take it one day at a time.