Washington Nationals fans — and general baseball fans who aren’t rooting for the Houston Astros — couldn’t get enough of Juan Soto in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old star from the Dominican Republic whose birthday is Friday, the same day as Game 3, hit a solo 417-foot homer to left center in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 2-2. And in the fifth after right fielder Adam Eaton sent the go-ahead run home, Soto hit a double, again to the opposite field, for two more runs on Washington’s way to a 5-4 victory at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
In about a year and a half, Soto went from playing in the minor leagues to an early World Series hero with so many fans rallying behind him. That includes players at the Nationals’ Dominican Republic academy, and nothing can top their reaction.
Thanks to Washington’s vice president of internal operations, Johnny DiPuglia, here’s a video of the players at the academy going nuts for Soto’s two-run double in the fifth.
Amazing. There’s so much love for Soto in this video.
Players at the academy at the time of Soto’s first big-league homer in May 2018 had a similarly spectacular reaction to the then-19 year old’s bomb.
Soto is hitting .286 in the postseason and now has three home runs and 10 RBI. Game 2 of the World Series is Wednesday in Houston at 8:07 p.m. ET (FOX).
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated it was a video of Soto’s home run in Game 1. It is his double.
