- Juan Soto has walked in four consecutive games entering the Subway Series opener at Yankee Stadium.
- Yankees starter Carlos Rodon carries a 12.7% walk rate this season, well above the league’s 9.0% average.
- Rodon walked Soto three times in Soto’s last game at Yankee Stadium, the booed May 2025 return.
- Rodon has posted a 3.09 ERA and 1.17 WHIP across his first 13 starts despite the elevated walk rate.
NEW YORK – Juan Soto has walked in four consecutive games entering Friday’s Subway Series opener at Yankee Stadium, where Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon’s walk rate sits at 12.7%, about 40% above this season’s major league average of 9.0%.
A Patient Bat On A Heater
Soto walked in each of his last four games through Wednesday, including an intentional pass in the eighth inning of the Mets’ 4-2 win over San Francisco on Sept. 6 that Bo Bichette, the next batter, turned into the go-ahead three-run home run. He carries a 17.0% walk rate this season, nearly double the league baseline, and a .393 wOBA, elite production, according to Baseball Savant.
A hitter drawing free passes at that clip does damage even in games he never squares a ball up. That makes another walk a live outcome against a pitcher who struggles to find the zone, and it is the sharpest angle on the legal sports betting board for Friday’s opener.
Rodon’s Control Has Wavered
Rodon opened the season on the injured list after offseason elbow surgery and did not debut until May 10, then lost another seven weeks to elbow inflammation from June 30. Since rejoining the rotation on Aug. 18, he has pitched like the front-line starter New York signed, and his season line, a 3.09 ERA and 1.17 WHIP across 13 starts, reads like a healthy year.
The walk rate tells a different story. Rodon has walked 12.7% of the batters he has faced, against a league average of 9.0%, so the free bases have been there all season. A hitter who takes what the zone gives him, the way Soto does, does not need to earn his way on against a pitcher issuing that many.
The Bronx History
Friday marks Soto’s first game at Yankee Stadium since his booed return on May 16, 2025, when Rodon walked him in all three of their matchups in a 6-2 Yankees win.
The clubs already met once in 2026, a May series at Citi Field the Mets took two games to one with a 7-6 extra-inning win in the finale, so this weekend’s set is the only trip to the Bronx on this year’s calendar. Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler are lined up to start Saturday and Sunday for New York, with the full weekend slate posted across legal MLB betting sites. Sunday’s finale is the last meeting between the two clubs this season.
