Soto, Burnes and Chapman have made strong impressions after switching teams.
Corbin Burnes threw six one-hit innings in his Baltimore debut, and Matt Chapman homered twice in his second game with San Francisco.
That all paled in comparison to what Juan Soto did in his first series for the New York Yankees.
The Yankees opened with a four-game sweep at Houston, with their new star outfielder making big plays the whole way. He threw the tying run out at the plate in the ninth inning of the opener, had three hits and a bases-loaded walk the following day, then homered Saturday night. In the finale, Soto had three more hits, including a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth that lifted New York to a 4-3 win.
With the health of Gerrit Cole hanging over the Yankees’ season, is it possible we’ve underestimated what a boost New York can expect from Soto? This is a player whose 2022 trade from Washington to San Diego felt like a truly seismic deadline deal, and although the Padres went through a disappointing season last year, Soto remained excellent. He doesn’t turn 26 until October.
While Soto was storming through his first four games in Houston, the defending AL East champions got off to a fine start themselves. Baltimore scored 24 runs in its first two games against the Los Angeles Angels. And the Orioles had to love what they saw from Burnes, who was acquired to be their ace and looked every bit of that in an 11-3 win Thursday. Burnes struck out 11 and allowed only one baserunner — a first-inning homer by Mike Trout.
As for Chapman, he had two homers and a double Friday for the Giants to join this group of players making strong first impressions for their new teams.
