Alfonso Soriano

From BR Bullpen

Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.

Debut September 14, 1999
Born January 7, 1976 in San Pedro de Macoris, D.R.

[edit] Biographical Information

Alfonso Soriano is a major star who has played eight years in the majors, and is one of the few players to ever hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season (the others are Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez). In spite of his stardom, both of his previous two teams, the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, were willing to trade him away after good seasons. Although he played exclusively second base from 2001-05, in 2006 he played exclusively in the outfield with the Washington Nationals. He had the unusual circumstance of hitting 46 home runs but driving in fewer than 100 RBI. During that year he also stole 40 bases. And if that wasn't enough he hit 40 doubles - making the first 40-40-40 club.

Soriano's career began in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp, training at their Carp Academy for Dominican players. He played for their ni-gun in 1996 and 1997. In 1997 at age 21, he was promoted briefly to the varsity team, wearing uniform number 74; he appeared in nine games, batting .118 (2 for 17) with two walks. Soriano did not enjoy the grueling practices in Japan and hired agent Don Nomura to try to find a way out. Nomura initially tried to claim that the teenager could not have signed without a legal guardian while the Carp argued that they were following Dominican labor laws, where you could sign at 18, not the Japanese law of 20. When a hearing sided with the Carp, Soriano then did what Hideo Nomo had done three years prior - he claimed to retire, on Nomura's advice, voiding his contract. He then asked to sign for a Major League Baseball team. The Carp filed legal action and it turned out that the Japanese officials had added language to the last MLB-NPB agreement forbidding such a move - a language change unknown to the MLB lawyers prior to the case. Bud Selig criticized the move and wrote to major-league teams that Soriano was considered a free agent. This led to the development of the new Posting System to allow players to go from Nippon Pro Baseball to MLB.

Soriano played in the majors briefly in both 1999 and 2000, but was mostly in the minors each year. He was primarily in the Eastern League in 1999 where he posted numbers of .305/.363/.501 (he also appeared briefly in the rookie league and in Triple A), and then in 2000 he was in the International League where he hit .290/.327/.464. From then on, he was in the majors for good.

With the New York Yankees, he replaced Chuck Knoblauch at second base, and when he joined the Texas Rangers, Michael Young moved from second base to shortstop to accomodate Soriano. As for the Washington Nationals, they had used several players in left field in 2005 before Soriano showed up in 2006, including Marlon Byrd (41 games), Ryan Church (37 games), and Brad Wilkerson (31 games). The second baseman whose place he did not take for the Washington Nationals is Jose Vidro, whose range at second base has not in the past been as good as Soriano's, but whose fielding percentage has been better.

Up until 2006, his best year has probably been 2002, when he hit exactly .300 with 51 doubles, 39 home runs, and 102 RBI. He also stole 41 bases, thus coming with a hair's width of joining the 40-40 club that year. He would have been the only second baseman to achieve that goal. However, his walk-to-strikeout ratio that year, as always, was terrible with 23 walks and 157 strikeouts. Defensively that year, as was typical, his range was better than average while his fielding percentage was lower than average.

In spring training in 2006 Soriano refused to play left field for the Washington Nationals, drawing a great deal of media ire and threats from the team to deactivate him. He consented after this backlash. He became the fourth 40/40 player in MLB history in 2006.

On November 19, 2006, he signed an 8 year, 136 million dollar contract with the Chicago Cubs.

Soriano hit 6 leadoff home runs in September of 2007, setting a MLB record. His 14 homers that month broke the Cubs franchise record held by Ernie Banks.

The similarity scores method shows the three batters as the most similar to Soriano through age 30 being Howard Johnson, Tony Batista, and Matt Williams.

[edit] Notable Achievements

2001 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
6-time All-Star (2002-2007)
2004 All-Star Game MVP
4-time Silver Slugger Award Winner (2002/AL-2B, 2004/AL-2B, 2005/AL-2B & 2006/NL-OF)
2-time AL At Bats Leader (2002 & 2003)
AL Runs Scored Leader (2002)
AL Hits Leader (2002)
AL Stolen Bases Leader (2002)
20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (2002-2007)
30-Home Run Seasons: 5 (2002, 2003 & 2005-2007)
40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2006)
100 RBI Seasons: 2 (2002 & 2005)
100 Runs Scored Seasons: 4 (2002, 2003, 2005 & 2006)
200 Hits Seasons: 1 (2002)