The obvious answer is no – not that you should have been booing him in the first place. But remember this moment the next time Soriano drops a fly ball, or strikes out on a breaking ball fifteen feet out of the zone.
A notorious free swinger, Soriano has been working with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo to keep the lower half of his body calm. The recent results speak for themselves.
“That’s a major difference,” Piniella said. “You can see that he’s seeing the ball much better because he’s not chasing. He’s zoning in.”
“I feel very comfortable at home plate,” Soriano said. “I’m a better hitter when I swing at strikes. Rudy works a lot with me. I’m working hard with him in the cage and I feel so comfortable at home plate because of the work I do with him.”
A day after first baseman Derrek Lee suggested that Soriano’s injury problems last year were much more severe than most people realized, the red-hot left fielder seemed more content to enjoy the moment than dwell on the past.
“I don’t like to make excuses in this game” he said. “Whatever happened last year, it was 2009. Now it’s 2010 and I’m happy the way I play and happy the way my body feels today.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
Soriano will not keep up his current pace, and he’ll probably never again be the player he was just a few years ago. He’ll certainly never be worth $18 million per year. But he can be a productive member of the Chicago Cubs for several more years.
It sounds like he’ll continue to be a hard worker and a good teammate.