Will Juan Soto bore Yankee fans with all his walks ... and only 32 Home Runs?

The initial knee jerk reaction the Yankees trading for him was: if Juan Soto hit 35 home runs playing his home games in unfriendly San Diego in 2023, he'll hit more than 40 in playing home games in Yankee Stadium in 2024 because it is configured with a short porch in right for a guy who died in 1948: Babe Ruth.

But the people in the know, are pointing out stuff like Soto's launch angle and his elitist tendency to spray the ball to all fields. Example:

MLB stats guru kills Yankees fans' vibes with Juan Soto 2024 home run prediction
The good news? He's a really good hitter.
By Thomas Carannante | Dec 27, 2023

... the short porch may not translate to an increase in home runs for the star slugger. MLB.com's Mike Petriello ... predicts 32 for Soto, citing the fact he's an all-fields hitter with just a 25% pull rate on line drives. Not only that, but Yankee Stadium's deep left-center field might actually keep some of Soto's rockets in the park.

Petriello added that right field in Yankee Stadium actually decreases the amount of doubles and triples, especially off the bats of lefties, because of how small it is. In theory, Soto's extra-base hit total could shrink as well. His 162-game average for doubles and triples is only 33 -- just like his homers.

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Then there's his Ted Williams (born in San Diego in 1918) disdain for hitable pitches that he considers beneath his lofty attitude.

But wait a minute. Doesn't true blue Yankee superstar Aaron Judge walk at about the same rate as Juan Soto: about 19% of PA? Yes, but Judge does not welcome his walks and, more importantly, neither do his Yankee fans who boo when Judge walks. They give the offending pitcher the Bronx cheer.

59 home runs by Yankees:

Player	HR	Season	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	1B	2B	3B	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	HBP	IBB
Aaron Judge	62	2022	30	157	696	570	133	177	87	28	0	131	16	3	111	175	.311	.425	.686	1.111	210	391	6	19
Roger Maris	61	1961	26	161	698	590	132	159	78	16	4	141	0	0	94	67	.269	.372	.620	.993	167	366	7	0
Babe Ruth	60	1927	32	151	691	540	158	192	95	29	8	165	7	5	137	89	.356	.486	.772	1.258	225	417	0	3
Babe Ruth	59	1921	26	152	693	540	177	204	85	44	16	168	17	13	145	81	.378	.512	.846	1.359	239	457	4

Provided by Stathead.com

 

Judge is the only right handed batter. All but Maris walked well over 100 times. Only Judge had way more than 100 SO and more than double Maris and Ruth when he hit 59 HR.

But let's look at their ratios and home/road splits in those seasons, including HR per AB and PA.

Rk	Player	HR	Season	Age	G	PA	AB	HR	PA/HR	AB/HR	SO	SO/HR	BB	SO/BB	SO/PA	BB/PA	Player
1	Aaron Judge	62	2022	30	157	696	570	62	11.23	9.19	175	2.82	111	1.58	25.14%	15.95%	Aaron Judge
2	Roger Maris	61	1961	26	161	698	590	61	11.44	9.67	67	1.10	94	.71	9.60%	13.47%	Roger Maris
3	Babe Ruth	60	1927	32	151	691	540	60	11.52	9.00	89	1.48	137	.65	12.88%	19.83%	Babe Ruth
4	Babe Ruth	59	1921	26	152	693	540	59	11.75	9.15	81	1.37	145	.56	11.69%	20.92%	Babe Ruth

			home	road	home	road	home	road
Player	HR	Season	HR	HR	AB	AB	AB/HR	AB/HR
Aaron Judge	62	2022	30	32	289	281	9.63	8.78
Roger Maris	61	1961	30	31	280	310	9.33	10.00
Babe Ruth	60	1927	28	32	253	287	9.04	8.97
Babe Ruth	59	1921 PG	32	27	256	285	8.00	10.56

1921 PG: Yankee Stadium didn't open until 1923. Ruth played his Yankee home games in his first three Yankee seasons in the Polo Grounds (PG), home of the New York Giants.

For all three 60 HR seasons, more HR on the road. And better HR rate (AB/HR) on the road for Judge and Ruth.

Will Yankee fans be chanting for Soto: Walk! Walk! Walk?

$30,000,000 for walks?