Soto on shuffle: An All-Star taste in music
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When Juan Soto isn’t belting homers out of the park -- like he’s setting out to do Monday in the 2021 Home Run Derby -- he can be seen getting loose in the dugout and on the field to the music being played inside the stadium.
“I really like everything,” Soto said. “I just like to move my body.”
The first-time All-Star also has an All-Star taste in music. Only 22 years old, his favorites range from current hits to oldies, across a wide range of genres.
• MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard: Tuesday on FOX
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Soto starts his day with relaxing music to help him wake up. He describes the songs -- which sometimes include Christian music -- as “good vibes for me in the morning.”
Once he arrives at the ballpark, Soto -- a fan of salsa and merengue -- shifts to a rhythm that he can dance to. Then, as game time approaches, he gets locked in for first pitch.
“You’ve got to get something that gets you hype,” Soto said. “So I listen to some rap or whatever is quick, hard, to get me really, really pumped for the game.”
Soto’s musical library also expanded over the years as he learned a second language.
“There are some kinds of music that I hear now [that] I heard when I was a little kid, but I just heard it because the rhythm was really good,” Soto said. “Now, I hear the lyrics and everything and it’s just better and it feels nice.”
When it comes to walk-up music, Soto has a carefully crafted playlist. In fact, he considers his picks the best among his teammates on the Nationals. Around the league, the Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Marlins' Starling Marte stand out to him.
“I mix it up,” Soto explained of his selection process. “I go hard, I go easy, I go in English, I go in Spanish.”
During this season, Soto added a new song to his rotation of four titles. “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf caught his attention after he heard it played in a video with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“I really liked it and I was like, ‘That’s going to be my walk-up song,’” he said. “It’s been really happy for me and people like it, so I just keep with it.”
The music Soto listens to at the ballpark is about setting a mood -- and making his presence known.
The objective of his walk-up songs?
“You’re going to be like, 'Alright, I’m up here,'” Soto said.
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