Soto’s crucial 10th-inning AB vs. Gaddis, pitch by pitch

There have been many momentous home runs in the long and rich history of the Yankees. On Saturday night in Cleveland, Juan Soto etched his name alongside those of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Aaron Judge and Soto’s own manager, Aaron Boone, among others with iconic homers in franchise lore.

Soto sent the Yankees to their first World Series in 15 years when he belted a go-ahead three-run homer in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Guardians. The two-out battle between Soto and reliever Hunter Gaddis, with the AL pennant at stake, lasted seven pitches.

Here’s a pitch-by-pitch breakdown of one of the most memorable at-bats in recent postseason history:

Pitch 1: 89.1 mph slider, insideResult: Ball (1-0)The pitch that Soto has had the most trouble with is the slider — he hit just .169 with a .338 slugging percentage against it during the regular season. Gaddis, whose slider had a run value in the 98th percentile during the regular season, opened the matchup with three of them. Soto laid off the first one, which dipped low and inside.

Pitch 2: 89.8 mph slider, lower-outside cornerResult: Called strike (1-1)Gaddis’ second slider was over the plate and caught the very bottom of the strike zone, according to home plate umpire Alan Porter. Soto took it and the count was even at 1-1. Soto immediately crouched down in displeasure after the borderline pitch was called a strike, apparently feeling the pitch was low.

Gaddis’s reliance on his slider was undoubtedly no surprise to Soto. The righty threw the pitch nearly 45% of the time this year, a huge increase from 2023 (31.7%). It’s been a trend in recent years to see relievers go all in on their best pitch, and Gaddis is no exception. That increased reliance on the slider helped him lower his ERA from 4.50 in ’23 to 1.57 in ’24.

Pitch 3: 89.2 mph slider, upper-middle of the zoneResult: Foul (1-2)With Soto taking each of the first two sliders, Gaddis went back to the pitch a third time to jump ahead in the count. Though this slider was left over the middle of the plate in the upper half of the zone, Soto swung over the top of it, getting just enough of it to chop a foul ball back to the wall behind home plate.

This seemed to be a huge break for Gaddis and the Guardians. Not only did this look like the kind of hanging slider Soto usually crushes, but it also swung the count in the pitcher’s favor. After 1-2 counts, Soto hit just .180/.273/.329 this season. On the flip side, Gaddis absolutely terrorized hitters once getting to 1-2, allowing just a .159/.179/.183 slash line after that count.

Pitch 4: 82 mph changeup, lower-middle of the zoneResult: Foul (1-2)After three straight sliders to start the at-bat, Gaddis attempted to not only change speeds on Soto by throwing him a changeup, but he also changed the eye level. After getting Soto to foul off the previous pitch at the top of the zone, Gaddis stayed over the middle of the plate but pumped the 82 mph offering in just above the knees. Soto stayed back just long enough to fight it off to the third-base side.

Soto immediately looked up at Gaddis and starting nodding his head, almost as if to say, “I see what you’re trying to do there.”

While Gaddis only threw the changeup 16.8% of the time this year, it was arguably his most lethal offering, especially to lefties, who managed to hit just .077 against his change this season.

Pitch 5: 82.9 mph changeup, high-outside cornerResult: Foul (1-2)Perhaps sensing that Soto’s timing was a bit off, Gaddis went right back to the changeup, though he elevated this one to the high-outside corner. This time, Soto was out ahead of the pitch, making just enough contact to send a dribbler toward the first-base dugout and keep the at-bat alive.

Pitch 6: 90.4 mph slider, outside cornerResult: Foul (1-2)Looking to somehow finish off Soto, Gaddis went back to his slider, trying to sneak one over the outside corner. Soto was again late on the pitch, but he fought it off with a liner over the third-base dugout and out of play.

Pitch 7: 95.2 mph four-seam fastball, high-outside cornerResult: Three-run home runUnable to get Soto with the slider (Gaddis’ No. 1 put-away pitch) or the changeup (his No. 2 put-away option), the Cleveland right-hander decided to mix things up by uncorking his first fastball of the showdown — and Soto made him pay. While it looked like catcher Bo Naylor was calling for the pitch a bit off the plate and above the zone, Gaddis’ 95.2 mph offering was ultimately right on the high-outside corner, nearly identical to the location of pitch No. 5.

Though it wasn’t left over the middle of the plate by any means, it was certainly in a spot where Soto could get his arms extended and pounce all over it.

Gaddis allowed just four home runs during the regular season, but three of them came against his fastball, and all of those were versus left-handed hitters, like Soto. And earlier in this series, Gaddis surrendered a homer against Aaron Judge in Game 2. The pitch? A four-seamer. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why Gaddis waited so far into the at-bat before going to his heater.

So what was going through Soto’s mind after fouling off four straight pitches with two on and two outs?

“I mean, I was all over him. I was all over him,” he said. “That was the only thing I was thinking. I was just saying to myself, ‘You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy. He ain’t got anything.’ And just try to make good contact, and I did.”

The contact was, indeed, good — the ball came off Soto’s bat with an exit velocity of 109.7 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 402 feet, landing well beyond the center field wall and sending New York’s dugout into a frenzy as Soto rounded the bases.

Boone, himself no stranger to the feeling of hitting a huge home run to send the Yankees to the World Series, said that Soto’s at-bat exemplified what his club did all throughout Game 5 and all throughout the ALCS.

“These guys pull for each other every single day,” he said as the Yankees received the AL championship trophy. “They love doing it with one another, they’ve been through so much already together this year, and they faced every obstacle. They keep playing the game. Tonight was an example of that — keep playing and we outlast them with a huge at-bat.”