KC Royals: Jorge Soler finally looking like the player Royals traded for

By Leigh Oleszczak | Apr 29, 2018

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 17: Jorge Soler #12 of the Kansas City Royals bats in the sixth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on April 17, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jorge Soler /

The KC Royals aren’t good, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some positives coming out of the first month of the season. Jorge Soler is one of those positives, at least offensively.

It wasn’t long ago when Kansas City Royals fans were bagging on Jorge Soler for not being able to do anything well either offensively or defensively. While Soler is still not the best defender, he’s actually doing incredibly well at the plate these past few weeks.

Soler currently leads the KC Royals in on base percentage with .433 and is second in batting average with .296. Mike Moustakas is at the top of that leaderboard with a .297 batting average, so it’s by a very small margin.

Soler is currently slashing .296/.433/.465 with two home runs, six RBI, and six doubles in 71 at bats. He has walked 17 times and struck out 21 times. Last year Soler hit just .144 and struck out 36 times while only walking 12 times in his 97 at bats. He’s already hit as many home runs this season as he did all of last year and he surpassed his hit total from a year ago (14) earlier this week. This is with less at bats than he had last year.

Jorge Soler now has walked in nine straight games. That's the most since Mike Sweeney also had nine straight games in 2000.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) April 29, 2018

More from Kansas City Royals

As I mentioned above, Soler hasn’t been all that great defensively, but seeing him finally produce at the plate is a wonderful sight. Dayton Moore knew what Soler was capable of doing if given the opportunity and getting at bats every day has certainly helped the 26 year old blossom so far this season.

Royals fans are going to be hard on Soler for awhile, simply because he was traded for Wade Davis, who was a member of those 2014 and 2015 teams. Davis continued to be an absolute stud for the Cubs last year while Soler barely played for the Royals, which didn’t help fans absorb the trade. With Davis in Colorado now, that trade still has a chance to swing in the Royals’ favor and if Soler can keep hitting how he is now, it’ll be tough to be angry with that particular trade.

In the last seven days, Soler has a .333 batting average with six hits, three RBI, two runs, two doubles, and one homer while drawing eight walks. He’s become a reliable hitter in the Kansas City Royals lineup and that’s not something many fans would have imagined just a few weeks ago.

We’re still early into the season, so Soler will hit a rough patch here at some point and it’ll be interesting to see how he responds to said rough patch. After not getting a hit until his fifth game of the season, Jorge Soler finally looks like the player the Royals traded for.

Home/Kansas City Royals