New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto was named the winner of the Juan Marichal award on Dec. 14 for the second straight season, presented annually to the best Dominican player in Major League Baseball.
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In 2025, Marichal threw out the first pitch to Soto before a Mets’ spring training game against the Houston Astros in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 27, an annual tradition that Marichal carries out with the award winners each season.
Juan Marichal, nicknamed “the Dominican Dandy,” is a former MLB pitcher who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1983. Born in Laguna Verde, Dominican Republic, Marichal made his MLB debut with the San Francisco Giants in 1960. In 1962, he pitched four scoreless innings as the starter for the Giants in Game 4 of the World Series against the New York Yankees, but the Giants lost in seven games.
Marichal was a 10-time All-Star, and he retired with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1975. He pitched 3,507 innings with 2,302 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.89 in 17 MLB seasons. He also led all MLB pitchers in the 1960s with 191 wins.
The Juan Marichal Award has been given out to the best Dominican players since 2021. Other winners of the award are Marcell Ozuna in 2023, Sandy Alcantara in 2022, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in 2021.
Soto had 43 home runs, 105 RBIs, 38 stolen bases, and a slash line of .263/.396/.525 in 577 at-bats in 2025. Soto also confirmed that he will be playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic this spring, as he did in 2023 on Dec. 14 at the Juan Marichal Award ceremony.
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Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke to World Baseball Network about Soto and his excitement for his second season with the Mets at the Winter Meetings in Orlando.
“This is a guy who is determined to be one of the greatest players that ever played the game. And like I said earlier, he wants to be coached, he wants to be challenged. And I just saw him last week, and he’s pretty impressive, his routine and the way he prepares every day,” Mendoza told World Baseball Network on Dec. 9 at the Winter Meetings. “He’s not satisfied with personal numbers. He wants to win. He wants to win a World Series. That’s his goal, and he’s working towards that. So I’m excited about year two from Juan Soto here with the Mets, and I can’t wait.”
Soto is a four-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and was a World Series Champion in 2019 with the Washington Nationals. Soto has played eight MLB seasons with the Nationals, Mets, San Diego Padres, and the New York Yankees, and has 244 home runs, 697 RBIs, 95 stolen bases, and a slash line of .282/.417/.531 in 3,857 career at-bats.
Photo: New York Mets’ Juan Soto takes part in a drill during a spring training baseball practice Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
