Jorge Soler Called Up

Nov 2, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler against the West during the Fall Stars Game at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The third installment of the Cubs super prospect series is here. The first article was about Arismendy Alcantara and the second article featured home run mashing Javier Baez. Now, it is time to inform you about the newly promoted Chicago Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler.

Coincidentally, I was in the process of writing an article about why you should add Jorge Soler because I thought he was going to be called up on September 1st.  However, Soler will be with the Major League club tomorrow, so the direction of this article has been altered.

Like my advice with the Javier Baez article, ADD THIS PLAYER IMMEDIATELY.  Do it now before everyone does so throughout the day.

Jorge Soler has massive power potential.  He has absolutely destroyed minor league pitching this season.  His only weakness has been injuries because opposing pitchers cannot stop him.

In 22 games at AA, Soler scored 13 runs, smashed 6 homers, and plated 22 RBI’s.  In this small sample size, Soler’s slash line of .415/.494/.862 would be hard to replicate on a video game on rookie settings.

I mean, seriously, who slugs .862 in professional baseball?  The answer to this rhetorical question is a guy who you can still add in your fantasy league.

In addition to his disgusting slash line, Jorge Soler has garnered a walk in 15.2% of his plate appearances.  Like I said before, his only weakness is his health.

After mutilating AA pitching for 22 games, Soler made his way to the Iowa Cubs where the tear continued.  At the AAA level, Jorge Soler played and dominated in 31 games for Iowa.

(Soler played his 32nd game Monday night with Iowa, but that game is still in progress at the time of my writing this and will not be used for this article’s statistics.  By the way, Jorge Soler took vaunted Mariners prospect Taijuan Walker deep for his eighth AAA homer right before getting the call).

In AAA, Jorge Soler somewhat returned to slightly more human levels of production with 21 runs scored, 7 home runs, and 26 RBI’s to pair with an impressive .278/.376/.593.  I think the most notable Soler stat (besides a homer in every fourth game) is that he has 17 walks and 25 strikeouts.  The Cuban outfielder really can do it all at the plate.

Let’s jump back and look at Soler’s teammate who I told you to add a few weeks ago when he made it to Chicago.  In 20 games so far, Baez is only hitting .207 and has 36 strikeouts, but he also has 12 runs, a ridiculous 7 long balls, and 11 RBI’s.  The trade-off of power and average is well worth it in my mind.

The difference between Jorge Soler and Javier Baez is that I believe that Soler has more power and is a more developed hitter at this point.  He will walk more and strikeout less than Javier Baez.  If you would own Baez, then there is no question you should start Soler in your lineup on Tuesday.

As long as Soler can stay healthy, then he should be a big time fantasy contributor and future star.