"I bet you hit a lot of homers" - Juan Soto hypes up Little Leaguer with 'huge hands', compares him with Yankees cap Aaron Judge
While arriving at the Little League World Series complex, Juan Soto and other Yankees teammates joined the company of Little Leaguers on the bus. There, he engaged in conversation with one Little Leaguer who he thinks has Aaron Judge's qualities.
During the trip, the broadcasters had Soto mic'd up, capturing a conversation he had with one kid sitting beside him. Considering the kid's physical attributes, Soto compared him with major league home run leader.
"I bet you hit a lot of homers, huh? You should, you should. You have a huge chance. Like Judge," Soto said to the young kid.
The young boy also mentioned how his teammates hates him for sitting next to Soto.
Juan Soto and Yankees receive overwhelming reception at Little League game
On Sunday, Little League teams from Illinois and Pennsylvania faced off at Lamade Stadium. Once the bus and the Yankees star reached the stadium, they were overwhelmed with the support from the crowd, especially Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
While Jazz Chisholm Jr. had his camcorder to capture the experience, other Yankees players engaged with their fans, signing autographs and taking pictures.
“Just to be able to interact with so many fans and so many players and seeing their excitement to watch us — but I think a lot of guys are equally as excited to just be there and see the field and the whole experience,” Anthony Volpe said via The Post. “They were blown away by how big Big G and Judge were.”
Some fellow Yankees reminisced about the time when they too were a part of Little League World.
“Around eight (years old), I started trying to wear a big league hat of whatever team I was on,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “You start copying what the players do. I just couldn’t imagine, at that age, being able to hang out with big leaguers at the time.”
“They had loads of questions for us and just the curiosity of what this means for us, what it’s like playing in the big leagues, the steps that it takes,” Stanton added. “Just picking our brains. The cool thing is I recognized some of the kids from watching them play [on TV] this past week. So that was pretty cool.”
Owner Hal Steinbrenner later joined Yankees stars and coaches at the complex. Hours later, the Yankees lost 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers at Bowman Field.