Slugger Jorge Soler opted out of the ultimate season of his three-year, $36MM contract with the Marlins following the 2023 season, and whereas there’s been loads of hypothesis a few potential reunion, Soler himself informed reporters Tuesday that his former membership hasn’t proven curiosity in re-signing him. “There was no contact with the Marlins,” Soler told Yordano Carmona of Pelota Cubana and others at a coaching occasion hosted by the Cuban Skilled Baseball Federation.
Early within the offseason, the Marlins have been reported to have some stage of curiosity in retaining Soler, however no matter curiosity they did or didn’t have apparently hasn’t resulted in talks between the 2 events. The Mariners, Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Blue Jays have all been tied to Soler, to various extents, over the previous month. (Notably, the Mariners have signed Mitch Garver to a two-year contract and reacquired Mitch Haniger since first being linked to Soler, which may take them out of the working.) Whether or not any has made a proper provide isn’t clear, however with fellow righty-swinging slugger Teoscar Hernandez now off the board to the Dodgers, it’s doable Soler’s market may speed up.
Soler, 32 in February, bashed 36 residence runs and hit .250/.341/.512 in 580 journeys to the plate with the Fish this previous season. He did so whereas registering a 24.3% strikeout charge and 11.4% stroll charge that each characterize the second-best marks of his profession. He posted an above-average .242/.326/.462 slash in opposition to right-handed opponents (110 wRC+) and completely demolished lefties with a .277/.393/.688 batting line that landed 81% higher than league-average (181 wRC+).
Past the uncooked offensive output, Soler continued to submit his annual model of tantalizing batted-ball metrics; he averaged 91.3 mph off the bat and noticed 48% of his batted balls prime 95 mph. Each of these marks positioned Soler within the prime 20% of massive league hitters, and he ranked within the prime 9 % of MLB hitters with a 15% barrel charge.
Thunderous contact has lengthy been part of Soler’s sport, however so have prodigious strikeout totals and questionable protection. His current contact enhancements have maybe assuaged some issues concerning the strikeouts. Soler recorded career-best contact charges on pitches within the strike zone (85.4%) and off the plate (60.1%) in 2023, resulting in a career-high 75% total contact charge. It’s nonetheless under the league common, however now not egregiously so. And, for a participant with any such light-tower energy, groups will sometimes dwell with some holes within the swing.
Nevertheless, there’s no getting across the defensive issues. Soler is greatest deployed as a main designated hitter at this level. His as soon as plus dash velocity has fallen to 26.6 toes per second (twenty sixth percentile of MLB hitters), and his arm power clocks into simply the 57th percentile. Miami trotted him out for simply 241 innings of protection in proper subject final season, and most public metrics have been fairly down on his efficiency there (-5 Defensive Runs Saved, -3.1 Final Zone Score, -3 Outs Above Common).
A brand new membership may nonetheless play Soler within the outfield every now and then — significantly with strikeout-heavy and/or grounder-heavy starters on the mound — and belief that he’ll not less than make routine performs, but it surely appears uncertain any crew would view him as an on a regular basis nook outfield choice. That stated, there are only a few energy bats obtainable on the open market this offseason, making Soler’s 36-homer platform yr all of the extra interesting.
Soler has had roller-coaster of a profession on the plate to some extent, however by measure of wRC+ he’s had only one below-average yr total relationship again to 2018. In complete, he’s slashed .243/.334/.486 over his previous 2598 journeys to the plate — numbers that don’t embody his .242/.342/.606 postseason displaying with the ’21 Braves, when he was named World Sequence MVP after belting three homers and plating six runs within the Fall Traditional. He’s additionally significantly youthful than fellow free agent DH candidates like J.D. Martinez (36) and Justin Turner (39), which may add to his attraction amongst groups searching for some right-handed thump.
Soler’s authentic three-year contract with the Marlins was signed when now-former normal supervisor Kim Ng was working the crew’s baseball operations. Ng declined her finish of a mutual choice at first of the offseason, and the Marlins employed Rays normal supervisor Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations.
