[1] His younger brother, Elian, is a third baseman and outfielder who signed with the Nationals organization as an international free agent once he became eligible in January 2023.

[2] His father, a salesman, was a catcher in a local men's league and encouraged his sons to make baseball their passion.

[6] Promoted to play with the Hagerstown Suns of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2017, Soto got off to a hot start before injuring his ankle while sliding into home in a game on May 2 and landing on the disabled list.

[14][15] After 15 games with Potomac, in which he hit .371 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs,[6] he was promoted to play with the Harrisburg Senators in the Class AA Eastern League.

[18] He came on as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., and struck out swinging against right-handed relief pitcher Erik Goeddel.

[20] He became the youngest player in franchise history to hit a home run[20] and the first teenager to homer in a major-league game since Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper did it at age 19 in 2012.

[20] Soto became the youngest major league player since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1989 to be intentionally walked in a game when Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter elected to do so rather than give him an opportunity to drive in a run on May 29.

The contest began on May 15, five days before Soto made his major league debut, but was suspended until June 18 due to inclement weather with the score at 3–3.

Since the stoppage occurred at the end of the fifth inning, a team would have been awarded the win if they were ahead, which implied that he had technically hit a home run before his MLB debut.

[31] On August 19, 2019, Soto became only the fourth player in MLB history to record 100 extra-base hits before his 21st birthday, joining Mel Ott, Tony Conigliaro, and his former teammate, Bryce Harper.

[35] In Game 3 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Soto hit his first career postseason home run off Hyun-jin Ryu.

[44] In the postseason overall, he batted .277/.373/.554 with 5 home runs and 14 RBIs and was named the co-winner (with Stephen Strasburg) of the 2019 Babe Ruth Award.

[51] Despite losing the first week of play to the positive COVID-19 test and missing some time in September with an elbow injury, Soto qualified for the batting title and became the youngest player in National League history to win, hitting .351 during the regular season.

[54][46] In spite of Soto's exceptional play, the Nationals were unable to capitalize, missing the playoffs even with an expanded format.

[61] He reinforced his reputation as the most disciplined hitter in baseball[62] by swinging at an MLB-low 15.1% of pitches outside the strike zone, leading the next closest player, Dodgers infielder Max Muncy, by 4.0 percentage points.

[63] Soto joined Ted Williams as the only players in MLB history to have led the major leagues in on-base percentage multiple times by age 22.

[72] Soto was the runner-up in National League Most Valuable Player Award (NL MVP) voting, losing out to Harper.

[73] Soto became the sixth player in MLB history to finish as runner-up in both MVP and Rookie of the Year voting.

[80] On August 2, 2022, the Nationals traded Soto and Josh Bell to the San Diego Padres in exchange for CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell, James Wood, Jarlín Susana, and Luke Voit.

[82] On August 12, 2022, just ten days after being traded to the Padres, Soto faced the Nationals in Washington, where he received a 45-second-long standing ovation from the crowd.

[83] For the remainder of the 2022 season with the Padres, Soto played 51 games with the team, compiling a .236 batting average, 6 home runs, 16 RBIs, and 36 walks.

[84] Overall in 2022, combined with both teams, Soto played 152 total games with a .242 batting average, 27 home runs, 62 RBIs, and an MLB-leading 135 walks.

[88] On December 6, 2023, the Padres traded Soto and Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees for Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, and Kyle Higashioka.

[89][90] Soto and the Yankees avoided salary arbitration prior to the start of the 2024 season, agreeing to a one-year contract worth $31 million.

[99] On August 14, Soto hit a solo home run to deep right in his first at-bat and became the 6th Yankee to hit a home run in 4 straight at-bats (joining the list with Lou Gehrig in 1932, Johnny Blanchard in 1961, Mickey Mantle in 1962, Bobby Murcer in 1970, and Reggie Jackson in 1977).

[100] He also became the 6th Yankee with at least 6 home runs in 4-game span (joining the list with Babe Ruth in 1921 and 1930, Tony Lazzeri in 1936, Joe DiMaggio in 1948, Mickey Mantle in 1962, and Alex Rodriguez in 2007).

[104] On October 19, Soto hit a three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning in Game 5 of the 2024 American League Championship Series for the Yankees to take a 5–2 lead over the Cleveland Guardians.

[111][112][113] As an ESPN writer described it: "He'll swing his hips or spread his legs or sweep his feet or shimmy his shoulders or lick his lips or squeeze his, um, junk, sometimes all at once.

[111] Soto employs a "two-strike approach" in which he raises his grip along the bat handle and adopts a wider, lower stance, sometimes described as a crouch, in the batter's box.

[118] Although he was a finalist for a Gold Glove Award as a left fielder after the 2019 season, Soto has indicated a preference for playing right field, his main position during his brief minor league career.