Jorge Soler has always had a cannon of an arm, made for right field. This season, and increasingly recently, however, the other aspects of playing effective right field – good reads off the bat, efficient routes, speed to the ball, etc. – have appeared lacking in Soler’s game.
To that point, you do have to recall that this is a guy who has had extremely limited professional experience, and is still just 23 years old. That he has some developing to do in the outfield should not be a surprise. He’s also had leg injuries each of the last two years, and that’s probably also had some impact.
But, rather than dwell on Soler’s defensive issues, right now, I wanted instead to share his awesome catch from last night. With the Cubs up 4-1 with no outs in the 9th, and Jason Motte on for the save with a runner on base, Khris Davis sent one deep to the wall in right. It looked like it was just going to get out of the yard when …
Your browser does not support iframes.
Robbery!
That’s a really impressive job tracking the ball, knowing where the wall was, and timing his jump. Yes, Soler currently rates as the second worst full-time defensive right fielder by UZR/150, but, at least for that play, he was a stud.
Considering the game situation makes the play all the more impressive. If Soler doesn’t make that catch, who knows what happens?