Dodgers: Juan Soto Says Walker Buehler is ‘Nothing Special’
Walker Buehler tossed six shutout innings against the Washington Nationals on Thursday en route to a 6-0 victory in Game 1 of the NLDS. Buehler’s final stat line was fantastic: 6 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 8 K. His command was off at times, shown by the three walks and high pitch count, but he still obviously kept the Dodgers in a fantastic position to win with his performance.
Nationals outfielder Juan Soto, who is just 20 years old, disagreed with that assessment. According to Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times, Soto believes Buehler is nothing special.
Juan Soto: "For me, it’s the same Buehler I’ve been seeing this season. It’s nothing special. He’s really good but he don’t have anything different for me."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) October 4, 2019
Notably, here is what Soto stated in his postgame presser:
“For me, it’s the same Buehler I’ve been seeing this season. It’s nothing special. He’s really good, but he don’t have anything different for me.”
On a night when Buehler gave up just one hit, no less. That is an interesting take from a 20-year-old who just saw his team get beat, only went 1-for-4 on the night, and struck out foolishly against Adam Kolarek. If anything, this should light the fire under the Dodgers and potentially Walker Buehler, who appears lined up to make a potential Game 5 start.
First off – Soto is a special player – but for him to make a comment like this after getting bested all night is a perfect demonstration of his age.
We will see what happens throughout the rest of the series with Clayton Kershaw set to toe the rubber on Friday and Hyun-Jin Ryu on the bump for Game 3 on Sunday. The Dodgers pitching staff will look to continue to keep Soto on a leash throughout this series as they did in Game 1.
How’s an 18 year olds option about a 20 year old showing his age mean anything? Just because someone pitches well against you or your team doesn’t mean that you have to praise the guy. You can’t go up to bat thinking this guys special and gonna dominate me. And if you don’t know that then you’re showing your age.
Wisdom comes with age, right? A older, wiser veteran would probably keep these kind of private thoughts private and not give an opponent any extra motivation, unnecessarily. Especially if he’s shown he’s good enough to kick your behind. That’s just not smart.
Anyone of any age should be able to realize right from wrong and in this case, maturity from immaturity.
If he is nothing special than what does that say about your team who couldn’t hit him….maybe he feels good because he was able to get a hit….that’s cute…as fantastic as buhler was against the nats I’ve seen this kid pitch much more dominant in the past….In other words Soto you guys caught him on an off night and still couldn’t do anything against him……
Buehler is something special….real special…. and everyone knows it, including Soto. Perhaps,Soto’s a little bitter because he was unable to shine last night as he did against the Brewers. While age should not be an excuse for lack of respect (class), I am sure he will learn…..I hope.
Barb McP, I know of some members of my gym who are a couple years younger than Soto that display much more class and show more respect.
Soto is entitled to his opinion.
Even if he is a 20 year old who has had a grand total of one good season. Very immature.
Profound!
To be objective there are few observations here. First he didn’t say Buehler is nothing special as the title suggests. He said the difference between the Buehler he has already seen this year and last night is nothing special, meaning there is not big difference for him. Also, keep in mind, English is not his native language, so we have to distill his meaning a bit. I think the point he was really trying to make is that he thought his team should have played better against Buehler because they’d seen his stuff before, and Buehler didn’t really bring out anything different this game that they hadn’t seen before. Maybe he did mean what is implied here, but I kind of doubt it. I think it is more a language thing than anything else.
In the end, doesn’t matter to me, as the Dodgers smoked them all around, and I couldn’t be happier. Pederson’s dinger, Holy Cow!!! Lux with rookie magic, amazing too! Kershaw is going to dig deep tonight, let’s go Blue!
You see this is what I was talking about. I can spot a tool a mile away in sports. The way this clown acts in the batters box the looks on his face, his attitude.. I just knew. It’s no surprise he would not only think this but also say it. Better eliminate these guys can’t have this clown celebrating
Bro. Stop misrepresenting what Soto said. He didn’t say Walker Buehler was nothing special, he said that his performance is no different from what Soto’s seen from him during the regular season (which is very good).
Buehler pitched a heck of a game last night. And, Maeda and Kelly did equally well. If Kersh can keep the ball in the ballpark, we will be in good shape to close this thing out on Sunday. Go Blue!!!!
BLUE LOU! Did you previously anticipate what my post here would be like? LOL I mean for CK, and especially earlier in tonight’s game he must keep the baseball in the yard. If Soto thought Buehler’s performance was sort of nothing special, I wonder what he might have said had Beuhler really been on his game lights out with no walks and about 12 K’s
This is the difference between the Dodgers and Nationals. The Dodgers believe in scouting with attitude in mind and knowing skills can be learned. Can you imagine Bellinger, Seager, Lux, Kershaw, Smith or even Buehler saying something like this?
Soto has done an absolutely incredible job of learning English in less than 3 years. Maybe that should be your headline. There are players who have been in MLB for 15 years who don’t speak that clearly. It’s pretty clear what Juan meant, but 20 year olds who just learned English must be easy targets.
The guys a jack** just look at how he acts at the plate trying to disrespect the pitcher. I think I saw Smith talk to him a little like saying come on man and at one point when he continuously did it to Kolerek Smith did a little sly spit near his feet. I loved it
Thanks Jerry, very cool!
“…he don’t have anything different for me.”????
I would guess the young Soto will be in for a surprise the next time he visits Buehler….also a few English lessons might make him sound a tad less illiterate…huh???