Shockwaves were sent through MLB last month when it was reported the Washington Nationals were open to trading Juan Soto ahead of the Aug. 2 deadline after he rejected a 15-year, $440 million contract extension.
It isn’t often that a player of Soto’s caliber becomes available, and several teams lined for the opportunity to acquire him. That includes the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had the prospect capital and financial resources to get a deal done.
With Soto still under team control for two and a half years, the Nationals sought a historic haul to part with their young superstar. The San Diego Padres wound up completing a Soto trade, beating out the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals, among others.
There was an expectation the Dodgers would need to assemble a trade package that included some combination of Diego Cartaya, Bobby Miller, Miguel Vargas, Michael Busch, Ryan Pepiot and Andy Pages.
Cartaya could have been a headliner as he is the Dodgers’ top prospect and ranked No. 13 in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline. “I only care about playing,” he recently said of the trade rumors.
“I don’t really listen to what they say or speculate about me. I know I can play and I just want to play.”
While some find it difficult being involved in trade speculation, Cartaya has tuned out the noise. “It’s not very hard,” he added. “I don’t think it’s hard. Just go out and play. It’s just a game. Enjoy it. It’s not very hard.”
Now in his third professional season, Cartaya has hit a combined .269/.407/.537 with 19 doubles, 17 home runs and 56 RBI over 70 games for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes.
Cartaya enjoyed representing Dodgers in 2022 Futures Game
Cartaya was among the prospects who represented the Dodgers in the 2022 MLB All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium last month.
He went 0-for-2 with a run scored and reached on an error. “That was fun,” Cartaya said of his Futures Game experience.
“Catching Bobby, he’s really good, so it was really fun out there.”
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