Kansas City Royals: Jorge Soler best Royals right fielder of 2010s

By Cody Rickman | Jan 6, 2020

Kansas City Royals Outfield Jorge Soler (12) runs in for a sliding catch in the outfield (Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Kansas City Royals have long desired a feared power hitter and they traded their best relief pitcher to acquire Jorge Soler. Soler’s display of health and power alone in 2019 make him the best right fielder for the Royals in the 2010s.

Jorge Soler was signed as an amateur free agent out of Cuba by the Chicago Cubs during the 2012 season for 9 years/$30 million. Soler flashed exceptional power potential, but couldn’t stay healthy to put together a full season with the Cubs. During the 2016 offseason, the Kansas City Royals acquired Soler in a trade with the Cubs for Wade Davis.

After transitioning to Kansas City, Soler struggled in 2017 leading many to believe the Royals lost massively with the trade. In 2018, Soler started to show signs of significant development, but injury cut short his season and development.

What an incredible breakout season Jorge Soler had for the Kansas City Royals in 2019. Soler shattered the Royals franchise record for home runs in a season and he established himself as one of the most feared hitters in the American League, putting up a second half stat line of .299/.411/.665, with 15 2Bs, 1 3B, 25 HRs, and 45 BBs (+3 IBB) vs 70 Ks.

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Soler relied a great deal on his 2019 breakout performance to make this list. His statistical line for the Royals during the decade speaks more to the revolving door the Royals have had in right field.

258 games (162 games in 2019)
.252/.342/.510 (.265/.354/.569 in 2019)
59 HRs (48 HRs in 2019)
57 extra base hits (34 extra base hits in 2019)

For the first time in Royals history, they had a player led the American League in home runs and Jorge Soler shattered the previous franchise record in the process. 2019 was Jorge Soler’s career year to this point and there has been some chatter about Soler taking his work ethic to the next level to become more respectable as a defender for the Royals in 2020.

The 2019 season was filled with massive home runs by Jorge Soler with his most memorable home run being his last #48 in his 162th game to shatter the Royals franchise record.

Soler’s biggest breakout in 2019 isn’t found in his stunning offensive production, but it was with his health. For the first time in Soler’s career he played in every game after showing glimpses of a breakout in 2018 before succumbing to injury after 61 games.

The work ethic Soler has shown since being traded to the Royals finally paid off in 2019 when he was able to show his full potential as prodigious power hitter. The Royals have never had a player with this much power potential outside of Bo Jackson whose career was cut short by injury.

Almost all of the players who were the best of the decade for Kansas City were a part of that World Series run in 2015, but even during that run and the run in 2014, the Royals didn’t have a strong right fielder. Soler might not have been on those teams, but he’s still the best right fielder the Royals had in the 2010s due to his 2019 season alone.

The time is ripe for the Kansas City Royals to extend Soler to a long-term contract in order to retain their coveted middle of the order power hitter.

Stay tuned as we’ll discuss the designated hitter of the decade in my next article.

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