Star Juan Soto of the New York Yankees was abruptly left out of the starting lineup for the team’s game against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday. At Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York, play was halted for an hour due to rain, with the Yankees leading 8-5 after five innings.
When play restarted, the 25-year-old slugger was supposed to bat first for the Yankees. But as the weather cleared, Alex Verdugo took his position. Over the course of three plate appearances, Soto flied out once and walked twice. After Soto’s status was revealed before the transition, a number of X pinstripe supporters became quite anxious.
Subsequently, the team disclosed that Soto had missed the second half of the match because of soreness in his forearm.
After play restarted, neither team was able to score, and the Yankees won 8–5. Soto has been bothered by the forearm ailment for the past week, according to Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who spoke with media following the game. Boone continued, “Soto will have imaging on Friday.”
Soto has proven to be one of the league’s greatest hitters throughout his first three months as a Yankee. The three-time All-Star has been a batter.318 through 64 games with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs. Soto’s 1.027 OPS is second best in the majors, only surpassed by teammate Aaron Judge’s 1.081 score.
