Juan Soto hit 11 home runs in 79 games and 332 plate appearances going into the All-Star Break last summer, in his fourth big league campaign, but things picked up for the now-23-year-old slugger after a visit to Denver, Colorado’s Coors Field, where he took part in MLB’s 2021 All-Star HR Derby for the first time, in his first All-Star Game appearance.
Soto put on an impressive display in the Derby, losing to eventual winner Pete Alonso in the second round, after knocking Shohei Ohtani out in the first round, then came out swinging in the second-half of the season, hitting three homer runs his first three games and 15 PAs to start what would end up being a monster second-half run (.