Tag Archives: Jorge Soler

February 16, 2025

Changes, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels acquired the following players for their 2025 active roster:

Jorge Soler, designated hitter
Yoan Moncada, third baseman
Tim Anderson, shortstop
Travis d’Arnaud, catcher
J.D. Davis, first and third base
Kevin Newman, infield
Yusei Kikuchi, starting pitcher
Kyle Hendricks, starting pitcher
Kenley Jansen, closer
Garrett McDaniels, relief pitcher

McDaniels, a rule five draft choice, is the only acquisition without MLB experience. He enters his prime years this season, with good strikeout and walk rates in the minors.

Otherwise, these acquisitions could be a throwback to the Gene Autry era, when the Angels acquired names rather than ability. Davis, d’Arnaud, and Newman take backup roles, but I suspect that most fans have a positive impression of d’Arnaud and Davis. Soler and Anderson both had big seasons in the past. Moncada appears to be a last minute replacement for the injured Anthony Rendon.

Kikuchi and Hendricks are certainly well known, while Jansen is a bit of a Los Angeles area hero. None of this group is young. Moncada the youngest will play 2025 as a 30 year old. In other words, the expectation for each of these players is a decline from their recent history. Those nine players project to about eight WAR combined. That’s not going to put LAnaheim in contention.

They have some name that fans might come to see. They all strike me as place holders until the Angels farm system produces some talent.

July 27, 2024

Best Batter Today

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto of the Yankees remain one-two respectively in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Two points separate the superstars. Judge homered and walked in the 9-7 Red Sox win, his home run worth watching as it was one of the longest seen at Fenway. I love the look on Zack Kelly‘s face. Soto drew a walk in five plate appearances. Bobby Witt Jr.of the Royals went one for four in a 6-0 win over the Cubs for third place. Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers ranks fourth after a two for three with a double in the 5-0 Astros win. He collected a third of the Dodgers hits.

Francisco Lindor of the Mets ranks fifth after an 0 for 4 in an 8-4 win over the Braves. The win puts the Mets in the top wild card slot in the NL, one half game in front of the Braves and the Padres. We have three good division races in the AL, two moderate division races in the NL, and an outstanding wild card race in the NL. It makes me wish massive ties were still disruptive.

The best game score of the day came off the bat of Jorge Soler of the Giants, an 81. He posted a perfect night at the plate, three for three with two walks and a home run in the 11-4 win over the Rockies. Soler is having a poor season at the plate, especially in terms of power, so it was nice to see him break out for a game.

February 13, 2024

Soler Maximum

Reports indicate the Giants reached a three-year deal with free agent Jorge Soler:

The San Francisco Giants and slugger Jorge Soler have agreed to a three-year contract worth $42 million, a source confirmed to ESPN.

…

Soler could have stayed with the Miami Marlins under his previous contract, but he declined a $9 million player option — an easy choice after he hit 36 home runs and posted an Adjusted OPS+ of 128 last season while making his first career All-Star Game appearance.
ESPN.com

Soler came up through the Cubs system when that front office was at the top of their game. He never produced for Chicago and they traded him to the Royals. At seasonal age 27 in 2019 he produced 48 home runs and a 3.7 fWAR season, but has not come close since. In fact, 2023 was just his second season with an fWAR over 1.0.

Given his last three seasons and his age, I would expect Soler to produce 1.9 WAR during his next three seasons. That means the Giants are valuing him at $22 million per WAR. Maybe if San Francisco keeps him off the defensive field he might produce enough offense to make he money worthwhile. Maybe the Giants believe they figured out how to get the most out of Soler’s bat. Right now, however, it looks to me that San Francisco really overpaid.

August 9, 2023

Best Batter Today

Mookie Betts of the Dodgers moves back into the top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Betts singled, doubled, and drew a walk in the 5-4 win in Arizona. Betts has not reached 30 doubles in seven of his ten season, and in the other six he hit at least 40 two baggers. His teammate, Freddie Freeman, stands at the top of the list after a three for five in the game, including his 41st double.

Braves rank second and third after an 8-6 late inning win over the Pirates. Matt Olson ranks second after he hit a single and drew two walks. Ronald Acuna Jr.homered in three trips to rank third, but left after getting hit by a pitch in the elbow. X-rays were negative.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels singled and walked in a 7-5 win over the Giants, the Angels ending their 0 for August. Ohtani ranks fourth.

The best game score of the day belongs to Jorge Soler of the Marlins, a 77. Miami flipped Soler and Luis Arraez in the lineup, leading off with Soler and batter Arraez second. It work for Soler as he knocked out three hits, including his 28th home run, and drew a walk. Arraez, however, went 0 for 4 and is now batting .370. It looks like his quest for a .400 BA is nearing it’s end. The Marlins beat the Reds 3-2.

June 18, 2023

Best Batter Today

Aaron Judge of the Yankees moves back into second place in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings by standing still. Judge, on the illjured list, loses 0.25 points each day he doesn’t play. The people around him lost more by playing. Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, however, did homer and walk in the 10-9 Royals win, the Royals snapping a long losing streak. That puts Ohtani ten points ahead of Judge.

Third place goes to Jose Ramirez of the Guardians, 0 for 4 in a 6-3 Arizona win. The Diamondbacks continue to be one of the nice surprises of the 2023 season. Note that Corbin Carroll, who homered in the game for Arizona, now ranks 21st.

Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers went one for two, but gets lifted in the 15-0 rout by the Giants. The game score gives a penalty to starters who get lifted early from a game, and that helps pull Freeman down. The game turned out to be an historic one:

LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a three-run homer, Davis added a pinch-hit grand slam, and the San Francisco Giants routed the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers 15-0 on Saturday night for their season-high sixth straight victory.

It was the Giants’ largest margin of victory over their NL West rival since a 19-3 victory on Sept. 14, 2013. It also matches the worst home shutout loss in Dodgers history, which came in 1898 against Pittsburgh when the team was based in Brooklyn.
APNews.com

Fifth place belongs to Luis Arraez of the Marlins, one for four with a walk in a 5-2 win over the Nationals. Note that the Marlins now bat their two best hitters at the top of the order, with Jorge Soler batting second. Once a hot prospect for the Cubs, Soler occasionally post a great year, and it looks like 2023 will be one. He currently ranks 20th on the list, and the Marlins occupy the top wild card slot.

The best game score of the day belongs to veteran great Jose Altuve of the Astros. He went four for four with two doubles and a home run for a game score of 82. He provided nearly all the Houston offense in a 10-3 Reds win. Altuve’s early season injury seems to have healed fine, as he owns a .278/.374/.481 slash line on the season.

November 3, 2021

The Million Dollar Ball

ESPN tells the story of the ball Jorge Soler hit out of Minute Maid Park. People watching the game from a balcony across the street saw where it landed and made a rescue:

So within minutes, Richard’s wife, Shawnda, and Manuel took to the street. Manuel guessed it took them about eight minutes to get down there — and then they discovered that the fenced-off area was inaccessible from where they were.
“I was talking to security, like, ‘Please, just escort me over there,” Shawnda said.
That conversation turned out to be the moment Manuel needed. As the security guards spoke with her, he jumped at his opportunity. Literally. “I guess I distracted them,” Shawnda said. “I didn’t even do it on purpose. I didn’t even know he came down [with me].”
ESPN.com

Their first thought was to burn the ball if the Braves won, but now that it’s the ball that won the World Series, they’ll hold on to the prize to see how much it’s worth.

November 2, 2021

Soler MVP

Jorge Soler wins the MVP award. His three-run shot in the third inning proved to be all the runs the Braves needed. He hit .300/.391/.800 for the series, six for twenty with a double and three home runs. Well deserved.

November 2, 2021

Let The Sunshine In

With two on and two out in the top of the third inning, Jorge Soler fouls off two 3-2 pitches, then hits the ball over everything, leaving the park in leftfield. The Braves take a 3-2 lead in game six. That’s it for Houston pitcher Luis Garcia.

Update: Freddie Freeman grounds out to end the inning.

October 31, 2021

Bad Hop

Jorge Soler of the Braves leads off the bottom of the first with a hard hit ball at third base. It takes a big hop over Alex Bregman‘s glove, and the Braves put the lead-off hitter on with a single. There’s no score in game five between the Braves and the Astros.

Update: With two out and Ozzie Albies on first after a fielder’s choice, Austin Riley singles down the leftfield line. Albies goes to third, drawing a throw, and Riley ends up at second. A poor play by the usual DH, Yordan Alvarez.

Update: Eddie Rosario draws a walk.

Update: Adam Duvall delivers a dinger, the grand slam putting the Braves up 4-0 in the first inning. He takes it the other way to rightfield, and it hits the top of the wall. Wow.

Update: A ground out ends the inning. The Astros are in a deep hole.

October 26, 2021

Soler Flare

Jorge Soler starts the World Series by hitting a 2-0 pitch over the rightfield fence for a home run. One batter, one run, and an early lead for Atlanta over Houston.

Update: Jose Altuve makes a great play on a Freddie Freeman grounder, then Ozzie Albies reaches on an infield hit. He steals second to get everyone a taco, then scores on an Austin Riley double. The Braves lead the Astros 2-0, and the pitching coach came out to speak with Framber Valez.

Update: The talk worked, as Valdez threw strikes to Eddie Rosario and gets the K.

Update: Valdez gets out of the inning with no more damage. According the the broadcast, Soler was the first person to start a World Series with a home run.

October 21, 2021

Soler Returns

Jorge Soler rejoins the Braves Thrusday night for game five of the NLCS:

Braves outfielder Jorge Soler has been cleared by MLB’s Joint Committee to return from the COVID-19 related injured list, the team announced Thursday.

Soler will be available for tonight’s Game 5 NLCS game against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. https://t.co/Yax5k6hl0x
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) October 21, 2021

The Braves have a tough decision to make, as both Eddie Rosario and Joc Pederson played very well in Soler’s absence.

October 9, 2021

Braves Break on Top

Jorge Soler of the Braves doubles with one out in the top of the third inning, then scores on a Freddie Freeman single to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead in Milwaukee. Ozzie Albies then doubles in Freeman, for a 2-0 lead as the Braves try to even the series with the Brewers. Albies double missed being a home run by inches as it bounced off the top of the outfield wall.

April 2, 2021

Best Batter Today

Corey Seager stays atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings after a two for three day with two walks in the Dodgers loss to the Rockies. The order of the top five does not change from the start of the season, with Jose Ramirez, Freddie Freeman, Marcell Ozuna, and Jose Abreu rounding out the leaders. All of them reached base at least one time.

The best batting game score of the day goes to Jorge Soler of the Royals in the 14-10 victory over the Rangers. He singled, homered, walked twice, and was hit by a pitch for a game score of 77. That moves him up to 141 in the batter rankings from 164 yesterday.

August 9, 2020

Best Batter Today

Alex Bregman of the Astros stays atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings with a one for four in the 3-1 Oakland win on Saturday. His lead over Nelson Cruz of the Twins dropped to 0.22 points, however, as Cruz homers in a one for five night as the Royals win a slugfest 9-6.*

*The teams combined for seven home runs at Kauffman Stadium in the game. That’s only the 18th time that many home runs were hit in a game at that ballpark. The record for the park is nine, set on April 9, 2000, also in a game between the Twins and the Royals.

Three-four-five contains the same players with a little mixing action. Justin Turner of the Dodgers moves up to third as he homers and walks in the 5-4 win by the Giants. Turner’s teammate Max Muncy goes zero for four in the game and drops to fifth place. Nick Castellanos of the Reds also goes zero for four and drops to fourth place, but the Reds win the game 4-1.

Big movers on the day were Jorge Soler of the Royals, who hit two home runs and now ranks seventh, and Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who went four for eight in the double header split with the Rays, hitting a home run. Judge now ranks eighth. Soler was once a hot prospect for the Cubs, but didn’t mature into a great hitter until he moved to the Royals.

September 17, 2019

Best Batter Today

The top four in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings are about as close as they could be to each other, just two points separating one from four. Alex Bregman stands first after a day off, but Anthony Rendon gained as he singled and homered Monday night. Ketel Marte doubled for third place, while Marcus Semien collected three hits, including his 31st home run to move into fourth place. That dropped the injured Christian Yelich to fifth.

In the same game, Jorge Soler hit home run 45 on the season, tying Mike Trout for the AL lead. Soler ranks 23rd right now. His ranking is hurt by his OBP, which is good, but not great like the players at the top of the list.

September 16, 2019

Soler Observations

Lynn Worthy at the Kansas City Star notes that Jorge Soler is now the favorite to win the AL Home Run Crown. He would be the first Royal to accomplish that feat. With Mike Trout injured, the title is Soler’s for the taking.

The article goes in depth on how the Royals worked with Soler to improve his offense:

“It’s a product of very hard work from Soler, but not only Soler, (quality control/catching coach) Pedro Grifol and (hitting coach) Terry Bradshaw,” Yost said. “Pedro got Soler, when we first got him, lined him up with people to hit with in Miami. He’s always kinda taken Soler under his wing. He grabbed him everyday and said look I’m going to show you how to use this computer so that you can formulate your own game plan. He was amazed about what you could learn on a computer, and now he’s religious with it.”

Bradshaw and Soler go through various drills to fine-tune his swing and recognize pitches as early as possible, while Grifol has stressed the importance of knowing how an opposing pitcher may attack him and winning crucial counts.

“They got the information, too,” Soler said of his daily work on the computer. “We have it as well. It’s an advantage knowing what his repertoire is — what’s he’s going to do in a certain counts, what he can do in certain counts. It helps my approach. It helps my focus. It just makes me better.”
KansasCity.com

Now it is up to the Royals to build a better team around him.

September 4, 2019

Soler Flare

Jorge Soler became the sixth player to reach forty home runs this season as he goes deep for the Royals against the Tigers in the fifth inning. Soler came into the 2019 season with 38 home runs total in his five previous seasons. A scouting report from 2014 suggested he might take a while to adjust to major league pitching:

The knock on Soler has always been the questionable hit tool, which could result in a significant adjustment period in the majors. That’s not a death sentence. Almost every prospect in baseball struggles upon facing consistently elite talent at the big-league level.
FoxSports.com

Soler looked like he might develop into a good top of the order hitter, with a good OBP and limited power. That changed this year as he blasted the ball and drove in over 100 runs.

In 1996, seventeen players reached 40 home runs. There were eight seasons in which at least ten players reached 40 home runs, and those were all in the PED era. The 2019 season may join that club.

December 7, 2016

Soler for Davis

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The Royals and Cubs reportedly agreed to a trade to alleviate the congestion in the Cubs outfield:

The Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs have agreed to a trade that will send reliever Wade Davis to Chicago in exchange for outfielder Jorge Soler, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Rumors surrounding Davis buzzed up on Tuesday, with Kansas City reportedly set on dealing him and the Nationals also involved in talks.

The 31-year-old two-time All-Star missed a large chunk of last season due to arm problems, but could bolster the bullpen of the defending World Series champion Cubs if healthy.

According to the report, the teams are examining physicals and will announce the deal Wednesday morning.

I’m wondering if rather than spend tons of money on a free-agent closer if they Cubs try to use Davis in the role. If he’s healthy, he is certainly a good option. Soler is an atypical Royals hitter in that he strikes out quite a bit, but also walks a good deal. His ability to get on base is a above average, while his ability to hit for average is just okay. His power is also pretty good. He’s just entering his prime this season, so this could turn out to be a great move for the Royals.

October 28, 2016

Wind Blown Triple

With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Jorge Soler sliced a ball down the rightfield line. It looked like it was going into the stands, but the wind blew it back in play. Lonnie Chisenhall had trouble tracking it, and it dropped it. Soler had slowed down thinking it was foul, and might have hand an inside the park home run. Javier Baez grounds out to end the inning, and the Indians maintain their 1-0 lead.

October 28, 2016

Soler Flare

Jorge Soler leads off the Cubs fifth with a single. Like the Indians the Cubs put their third lead-off man on base. Someone needs to hit an extra base hit to drive someone home from first. So far, all the this are singles.

Soler moves to second on a slow ground out. One down. This inning is starting just like the Indians top of the fifth.

Update: With two out in the fifth, the Cubs send Miguel Montero to the plate to pinch hit for the pitcher. Terry Francona makes a double switch, removing Carlos Santana for Rajai Davis and bringing in Andrew Miller in a high leverage situation.

Update: Montero hits the ball hard, but straight at the rightfielder for the third out. No score at the end of five.

October 20, 2015

Soler Flare

Jorge Soler went slightly the opposite way as he hammers a ball to the rightfield side of center. Once again, a Cubs solo shot ties the Mets, this time at two in the bottom of the fourth. Soler is 6 for 13 with four extra base hits in the post-season.

October 12, 2015

More Rookie Power

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Jorge Soler gets the runs back for the Cubs with a two-run homer to put the Cubs back up by three, 7-4 over the Cardinals. He is the third rookie to go deep for Chicago tonight in a game that features six home runs, five by the Cubs.

August 30, 2014

Soler Flare

Jorge Soler is certainly off to a great start. In 12 plate appearances, he owns seven hits, three home runs, and a walk. He struck out three times, so when he puts the ball in play he’s 7 for 8. While that won’t last, given that he was tearing up the minors, and that this small sample size show he can square up a pitch, I expect we’ll see great things from the youngster.

April 11, 2013

Soler Flare

Cubs prospect Jorge Soler is headed for a suspension after charging the opposing dugout with a baseball bat.

With Daytona leading 9-7, Soler slid into second base and got tangled up with the second baseman during a double play. Soler was upset that he was spiked during the play and the two exchanged words. Benches cleared, but no punches thrown.

It was after the play when Soler returned to the dugout, grabbed a bat and challenged the Threshers dugout to a fight.

One against 25? If the ensuing fight happened it might have looked like this:

The Cubs may have another Carlos Zambrano on their hands.

June 11, 2012

Soler System

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It’s being reported that the Cubs reached a deal with Jorge Soler. Craig Calcaterra comments on the deal:

Soler represents a great way — maybe the last best way — for a Cubs team badly in need of rebuilding to get a premium international free agent or amateur talent without being subject to the new bonus limits of the new CBA.

Soler is just 20 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to mature into a great major league player. We’ll see how the Cubs handle him, and if they think he’s ready to join Mike Trout and Bryce Haper as young phenoms at the major league level.

Update: Kevin Goldstein doesn’t think Soler is ready for the majors yet.