CONFESSIONS OF A HITMAN

Verducci profiles American professional football player Juan Soto. Soto, the Nationals' right fielder, is 23 years old, the same age Frederic Chopin, another prodigy, was when he published his first set of Etudes in 1833. An etudes is a batting drill for a pianist. It is a short work written as a teaching aid. But from the hand of Chopin, etudes elevate to concert repertory. So it is with the Etudes of Soto: Utilitarian practice becomes artistic masterwork. Not once in his 75 swings off various types of flips from Dillon does Soto hit a ball off the top net. Most swings produce line drives toward left center, the favorite direction of his left-handed swing. In one sequence Soto doesn't swing at the flips but knocks them straight down with the end of the bat knob.