Elian Soto, brother of Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto intends to sign with the Nationals during the 2023 international free agent period, Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic reports.

This report comes 10 days after Yancen Pujols reported that Soto will sign with the Mets during July 2022.

There’s not much to know about Soto other than he’s a left-handed outfielder like his older brother. Soto would have joined another Mets international free agent signing for 2022, 16-year-old outfielder Simon Juan. Juan ranks 14th on Baseball America’s rankings, Soto does not appear on the higher end of any rankings and is notable in the last name only.

What’s confusing about the initial report and its subsequent update is that Soto posted a video to his Instagram page where he was decked out in Mets gear. Maybe he just liked the colors?

These free agent deals are agreed to years in advance and provide no protection to the players involved. Rules are supposed to prohibit deals like this from happening. Is it likely the Nationals are going to spurn the younger brother of their star player, no, but crazier things have happened. It could’ve just been a case of faulty information on Pujols’ behalf.

So Elian Soto doesn’t intend to be a Met but that doesn’t close the door on older brother Juan when he becomes a free agent in 2025. Soto did put up a cryptic post himself earlier this year when he posted himself looking out onto Citi Field saying he has New York on his mind.

If Soto doesn’t pan out as a prospect like his older brother it could be a last-ditch effort for a tanking Nationals team to re-sign Juan. But the megadeal he will land in the next few years aligns with the Mets getting a majority of their large contracts off the books by 2025. Imagine a team with the best pitcher and hitter in baseball on the same team? For now, Mets fans will only have to imagine.