"Generational talent"

In one of his comments yesterday, Hoss mentioned that Soto is a generational talent. That seems to be the general opinion of the baseball world.

Except he isn't.

If Soto was a generational talent, the media would be breathlessly following his exploits, because they would be worth following breathlessly. But the media attention falls mainly on Ohtani, and I have to admit, as a very good power hitter and very good pitcher, he probably deserves it.

Obviously, media attention doesn't make a generational talent. Although I think it's safe to say Ohtani is a generational talent, for whatever nits we can pick about him.

To me, a generational talent is screamingly apparent by the age of 27, which is Soto's age. Here's what he's done so far.

He had a couple of incredible years back with Washington. Good power hitter. And we know his defense is pretty bad. Generational talent?

This, to me, is a generational talent.

Mantle. A generational talent, hands down. Unarguable. Which is generally true of a generational talent.

Say hey. Yeah, pretty well proved by age 27. Here's a tougher one.

Maybe not as easy a call as Mantle, but I'd say Mike Trout was a generational talent. And then the injuries started piling up, like they did with Mattingly. 

A couple of other no-brainer generational talents were Ichiro and Mariano. Ichiro was a singles hitter mostly, but I don't care. That guy could hit. And Mariano...words fail me. Just unmatched.

After this long trip around the barn, I'd like to make one simple statement: Soto is not a generational talent. He's got a flair for the dramatic sometimes, he certainly has power, but after that, what? He's good, no doubt about that, expecially if you can keep him from playing defense. But generational talent? I don't think so. Can we put that phrase to bed where he's concerned?

It just isn't so. Maybe he's a late bloomer. We'll see how the phrase fits in a few years. But I don't think it will change.

One old, expat, addle-brained man's opinion. 

P.S. In a just universe, the Bears win that game, even with all the mistakes. But so it goes.