Kansas City Royals: Jorge Soler Struggling Through Spring Training
The Kansas City Royals traded for outfielder Jorge Soler this offseason and things aren’t off to a great start for Soler. He’s been struggling mightily during Spring Training so far.
The first big move that the KC Royals made this offseason was trading for Jorge Soler of the Chicago Cubs in exchange for closer Wade Davis. Davis had established himself in Kansas City, but after several injuries landed him on the disabled list last season and with Kelvin Herrera in waiting, the Royals could afford to make this trade.
Jorge Soler, however, hasn’t gotten off to a great start down in Surprise, Arizona at Spring Training.
According to Max Rieper of Royals Review, Soler had only been batting .140 with 15 strikeouts during his 43 at bats. Those are not good numbers.
On the one hand, yes, this is concerning because the Royals traded for this kid. They traded for him because he has the ability to hit for power (he did hit a home run the other day, his first of Spring Training) and that hasn’t really shown during Spring Training.
On the other hand, however, does Spring Training matter all that much? Of course it does for getting everyone warmed up for the season, but the stats are meaningless and the games are the equivalent to preseason football in the NFL. No one will remember Soler struggling and actually, a lot of people probably really aren’t even aware of it.
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Rieper’s article, which is linked above, basically tells Royals Nation to not panic about Jorge Soler’s struggles. He mentions that Soler has had a two-week slump for the KC Royals in Spring Training, but that Mike Moustakas had a two-week slump during his career year in 2015.
"Soler has had just 43 at-bats, about two weeks’s worth of games. A lot of players can go through a slump in two weeks. Mike Moustakas, who had a career year in 2015, had a stretch from July 21 to August 10 where he hit .129 over 69 plate appearances."
Slumps can hit anyone at any time and hopefully, Jorge Soler is just getting adjusted right now. These are the best times for any hitter to be having issues after all, as the games don’t matter.
Soler is only 24 years old and has had a slew of injury problems during his young career. The injury bug biting him a lot is concerning, but the Kansas City Royals traded for Soler so that he could add power to the lineup.
Should KC opt to send Soler to the minor leagues to start the season, then that’s the best option. They need a right fielder, but with Paulo Orlando still on the team, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There’s no need to force Jorge Soler into a starting spot if he’s not quite there yet.
What do you think, Royals fans? Should we be concerned about Jorge Soler not doing well in Spring Training or is this not a big deal?