Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo met with a bunch of reporters this morning before the Washington Nationals took on the New York Mets. During the impromptu press conference in New York, Rizzo discussed a lot of topics including all the buzz around Juan Soto and calling up Luis García from Triple-A Rochester.
“It doesn’t frustrate me… I get it. You guys got a blank piece of paper every day to fill up, and this is a very clickable, very writable story. And I can only say it so many times and in so many words what our decision on that topic is.” Mike Rizzo on the rumors surrounding Juan Soto
“We have a lot of things to worry about with the Nationals. Juan Soto is not one of them. He’s a great player, he’s a great person, he’s a great leader. The only difference I see is he’s taken a more aggressive leadership role in the reboot that we have now. At the end of the day, he’s Juan Soto, he’s going to be Juan Soto and I wish I had a lot more like him.” Mike Rizzo discusses Juan Soto and his leadership in the clubhouse
“It made sense, because we have a shortstop on the (IL) … We thought he was very close, and when Escobar went down it made it a fairly simple decision to make.” GM Mike Rizzo discussed why he called up Luis García.
“They pitch him like Babe Ruth. Every team does. He’s circled on everybody’s lineup card: ‘This is the guy that’s not going to beat us.’ He sees the least amount of fastballs in baseball, he sees the most offspeed pitches in baseball and he’s got the ingredients that all the great hitters have. He’s got great bat speed, great balance at the plate, he’s often ahead in the count because he’s got a great knowledge of the strike zone — that hasn’t changed. I think that when he’s hitting where he’s hitting today on June 1, he’s got a lot of hits coming because he’s going to be where he’s going to be because he’s Juan Soto.” Mike Rizzo on Juan Soto’s approach at the plate.
