Juan Soto's Disastrous Slump Reaching Epic Proportions

Is it possible that just about everyone in baseball was wrong? Were the San Diego Padres justified in trading their top five prospects for young hitting phenom Juan Soto? He's too good of a hitter for this to continue... But at this point, 'Slam' Diego is getting slammed by the worst slump of Soto's career. And it might cost them a playoff spot.

Juan Soto's 3-for-47 over his last 15 games. Padres averaging a little under 3.5 runs per game over that stretch and are 18-19 since the trade.

— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) September 16, 2022

Soto went hitless again Thursday night, and is now batting .063 over his last 15 games. That's 3-for-47. The Padres, as a result, are averaging a mere 3.5 runs per game over that stretch, and are quickly losing their grip on the final Wild Card spot in the NL. Now just 1.5 games over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Soto came to the Padres as a lifetime .291 hitter, with a .965 OPS. Since the trade? .209 with a .716 OPS. Yikes.

juan soto as a padre:

34 games
.209/.385/.330/.716
3 HR’s
7 RBI’s

josh bell as a padre:

37 games
.207/.318/.311/.630
3 HR’s
11 RBI’s

traded 5 prospects including 2 MLB ready prospects for this type of production and you’re only 2 games up in the WC

😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬

— 𝕥𝕪𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖 ✨🌦 (@tyrese1717) September 16, 2022

 The Padres are only 18-19 since the deadline deal with the Washington Nationals that also landed them slugging first baseman Josh Bell. He, too, has slumped horribly in San Diego, hitting just .204 — 100 points below his mark at the time of the trade — with an OPS of .625 with the Pads, 250 points below his .877 mark with Washington.

The early returns make this a disastrous trade for the Padres at this point. But again, Juan Soto is too talented to continue like this.

Photos: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports, Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports