Comment SAN DIEGO — Juan Soto sat in a rolling chair emblazoned with a San Diego Padres logo and raised his leg high enough that Fernando Tatis Jr. he could see his red and white cleats from his chair a few cupboards away. “Look at these!” Soto said Wednesday and Tatis laughed at the combination of red and white with Soto’s fresh brown socks. Screens in brown and gold are expected soon. But the first day of the rest of Juan Soto’s career would include a reminder of all those other days he spent in Washington, a baseball world away. “I never thought they would. I thought they would try to keep me and try to rebuild the team with me. It surprised me,” Soto said in the Padres clubhouse as he tied the other inning. The New York Mets were beating the Nationals on a TV hanging a few feet away. “Deep down in my heart, I thought they wouldn’t.” That Soto was there, joking with friend and young superstar Tatis, introducing himself to infielder Ha-Seong Kim with a “nice to meet you” and talking about Max Schercher’s repertoire with catcher Austin Nola, is a transformative development for the departed team. and the group he joined. It could prove transformative for Soto and Josh Bell as well. Nats trade Juan Soto to Padres, seismic move for sport and franchise Not 24 hours after boarding a private plane to San Diego paid for by the Padres, Soto and Bell found themselves jostling superstar Manny Machado in the lineup for a contending team under the California sun. “You go from a team that has no chance to make it this far, it’s a great feeling,” Soto said. “It’s a new beginning for me. This year, it’s just a new beginning, a new feeling to go out there and give more than I’ve got.” Before anyone could even worry about getting out there, the two were taken to Petco Park for social media shoots and introductory interviews, sitting next to General Manager AJ Preller and owner Peter Seidler. Preller presented Soto with a story about the time a Padres assistant general manager learned the young star was hitting in Point Loma, not far away. He had flown there after his successful rookie season to work with a hitting coach, “working on his craft,” Preller said. Preller recalled chasing Soto’s team as a teenager in the Dominican Republic — a pursuit that ended, he joked, with Preller out-scoring someone else ahead of him. But Preller pointed to that January hitting session as a moment when he decided his team would do everything they could to get him, if they could. Analysis: Padres GM AJ Preller, master of the big swing, just took his biggest swing yet The GM also joked that Bell — the slugging switch hitter with an .877 on-base-plus-slugging percentage entering Wednesday — wasn’t “bad to throw-in” before clarifying that Bell was much more than that. From there, Soto’s smile stole the afternoon. He flashed it when asked about the Padres’ lineup, which is still waiting for Tatis to return from injury and still waiting for Machado to warm up again. “I wish the other pitchers the best of luck,” Soto said with a laugh. He flashed it again when he explained that pitcher Nick Martinez, who wore No. 22 with the Padres until a few hours ago, asked him for a fishing boat in exchange for the number. “It really surprised me. I had never seen anything like this before. I had seen some guys trying to find numbers and what they had given. But when he asked me for a boat, I was really shocked and surprised,” Soto said. “I thought it was overkill, but I tried to explain to him that I would try to get him a really nice watch and he agreed.” The ramifications of Soto being in this lineup after a calendar year of being the main focus of every opponent’s game could extend far beyond a few more smiles. His new manager, Bob Melvin, said he’s not positive about which order Soto, Machado and Bell will hit — but he expected Soto and Bell to immediately feel a difference, not just because of the at-bats around them but because of the energy of Petco Park. “I will continue to take my walks. I’m not going to try to be a superhero,” Soto said. “But it will definitely be more exciting. There will be more opportunities to bring children home. I’ll have a better chance of winning games.” A person close to Soto said he grew frustrated at times with the Nationals, worried that a disappointing first half (he was hitting .246 at the time of the trade — nearly 50 points shy of his career average) would become more disappointing if Washington traded away all of others but kept him. After the trade, he expressed excitement about the chance to play “real baseball” again, this person said. Soto’s hustle never exactly wavered. But here, with talent and energy around him again, he might just soar. “We talked about it when I was talking to these guys: They’re going to feel the excitement on that field,” Melvin said. “It’s always exciting, but it will probably be taken to another level today. We will all feel this.” Could the Nats have avoided trading Juan Soto? Your questions, answered. Soto has never played for a major league manager not named Dave Martinez, and he’ll notice as well. He admitted that saying goodbye to Martinez shortly before leaving Nationals Park on Tuesday was one of the hardest parts of a long day that began with waking up to a call from agent Scott Boras that he was likely to make a trade this time. Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo also called him, telling him nothing was official, but something was in the works. He said he was still surprised when it happened, even though Boras had explained to him the rationale behind a deal, even though he had learned in recent months that no one is immune in the business of baseball. “I have no hard feelings towards these guys. I still feel good about what they did for me. This is the first team, my first team, the team that makes me a professional player,” Soto said. “They gave me a chance to come to the big leagues. They made me a great champion. I will always be grateful for that. There are no hard feelings about any of this.” Svrluga: The Juan Soto deal is heartbreaking. Now hope can begin. Soto hopes some brown and gold silks will be coming soon. Meanwhile, he pounded the club in those red and whites, shaking hands with new teammates. At one point he stopped and looked to his right, noticing Bell’s new locker across from the club. “JB!” he said as he walked by, taking a slightly more circuitous route back to his own locker than he probably will a week from now. When he ran onto the field at Petco Park for the first time, he showed the fans in the stands like he used to at Nationals Park. He seemed a little hesitant. So do they. But four pitches into his Padres career, he was safely at first base. Five hits into his Padres career, he had scored a run. After all, for Soto, home is one of the major leagues, no matter what color his pitches are as they shuffle through the dirt.