Washington Nationals’ Juan Soto named NL Rookie of the Month for June...

Of course he was. Juan Soto was named the National League’s Rookie of the Month for June this afternoon in an announcement made on the MLB Network.

In 24 games in his first full month in the majors, Soto, 19, went 26 for 82 (.317/.440/.610), with six doubles, six home runs, 18 walks, and 20 Ks in 100 plate appearances.

Soto led all NL rookies in AVG (.317), OBP (.440), SLG (.610), home runs (6) and walks (18), and he was ranked second in doubles (6), and hits (26), and third in RBIs (15), as the Nats noted in their press release on the recognition their left fielder received.

Soto also reached base safely in 22 of the 24 games, with hits in 18 of 24.

“I love his at bats,” Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez told reporters a week back. “He’ll take a walk when he needs to, and he puts the ball in play.”

“For me, if you watch him, for me, he reminds me of Bryce [Harper] a lot when Bryce was younger. Their swings stay in the strike zone a real long time, and when I see him out there, I really see his swing path almost the same.”

Martinez has also praised the rookie outfielder’s ability to adjust to what pitchers around the league are trying to do as they build a scouting report on the left-handed hitting slugger.

“He went through one phase where they did try to get him to start chasing,” Martinez said.

“They’re throwing a lot more breaking balls to him and he went and started swinging at them, and he admitted, he said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to see the ball up more,’ and he did that on his own. Like I’ve said before, this kid is 19, but he’s got the baseball mind of a 30-year-old veteran.”

He’s also got an NL Rookie of the Month award to put on his shelf... assuming they do really hand out a plaque or something.