Juan Soto advocates for Gerardo Parra to throw out first pitch Opening Day

When Gerardo Parra signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, one player among those most disappointed he wouldn’t be returning to the Nationals was leftfielder Juan Soto.

At 21 years old, Soto and his jubilant personality attached to Parra’s fun-loving antics like a magnet. The star outfielder embraced the dugout dance parties and “Baby Shark” hit celebrations. But heading into 2020, Soto has been forced to come to terms with playing without Parra in D.C.

“We’re gonna miss him on the Nationals,” Soto told NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Doolin on the Nationals Talk podcast. “I was talking to him at his house…we’re gonna work on the golf…he told me he wants me to get that and help me do that and I’m gonna work on that.”

Gerardo Parra Signs With Japan’s Yomiuri Giants

Veteran outfielder Gerardo Parra has reached an agreement to sign a contract with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the Giants announced Wednesday (hat tip: Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker, on Twitter). The Giants have announced the move in a press release on their official web site. It’s a $2MM deal that includes a $3MM vesting option for 2021, per Jose Rivera of ESPN Deportes (via Twitter).

The 32-year-old Parra, a client of Octagon, won a World Series ring with the Nationals and will now head overseas for the next chapter of his career. He signed a minor league contract with San Francisco last offseason but ultimately landed with the Nats after being cut loose by MLB’s Giants.

No word yet as for where Baby Shark has signed.

How ‘Baby Shark’ made the Washington Nationals your toddler’s favorite baseball team

HOUSTON — If you want to know just how weird and random and glorious this World Series run is for the Washington Nationals, consider this: As Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning and the Nats were taking a 2-0 lead over the Astros, thousands of people 1,400 miles away were sitting inside a baseball stadium in Washington D.C. pretending to be sharks.

Baby Sharks and Daddy Sharks and Mommy Shark. And heck, even Grandpa Shark and Grandma Shark.

“Baby Shark” — a song that toddlers across this country can somehow recite and has been viewed billions of times on YouTube — has become the unlikely rallying call for a team of baseball players making a surprise run toward their franchise first World Series title. It’s also been eagerly embraced by a city so hungry for that title it would sing kids songs if that’s what it takes.

It’s fitting in a way. Baseball is a game that we traditionally fall in love with as children, but the game has gotten serious and expensive these days. An entire circle of fandom getting gobbled up by a kid’s song and then televised across the country — as it will Friday night when the Nats host Game 3 — is probably a good thing for baseball.

I’m inclined to find it oddly charming- then again, I don’t have children, so I suspect the parents among us might offer an alternate perspective.