Jorge Soler gets his World Series ring. Now, he wants to create memories with Marlins
%20(7).JPG "Miami Marlins’ Jorge Soler tips his helmet to fans as he prepares to bat against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, April 22, 2022, in Atlanta. Soler was the World Series MVP while playing for the Braves in 2021. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)")
The moment is still fresh in Jorge Soler’s memory.
Nov. 2. Game 6 of the World Series between Soler’s Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros. Top of the third inning, no score, two runners on base, two outs and a full count.
On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Luis Garcia threw Soler an 83.4 mph cutter that hovered near the heart of the plate. Soler took a hearty swing and watched the ball continue to elevate as it soared into the outfield. He knew it was gone. He dropped hit bat, pointed to his celebrating dugout as the ball carried beyond the left-field wall at Houston’s Minute Maid Park and rounded the bases for his three-run home run.
Soler didn’t think much of the at-bat when it happened or as he completed his 360-foot trot around the bases.
But the magnitude of the moment hit him soon enough.
“Wow,” Soler remembers telling himself after the game. “What I did was something.”
That “something”? It can be described on two levels. For the team, he gave the Braves a lead they wouldn’t relinquish to secure the 2021 World Series. For himself individually, it wrapped up his resume to be named World Series MVP after hitting three home runs and batting .300 (6 for 20) with six RBI and four runs scored over the six-game series.
“It puts a great emphasis on my career,” Soler said. “Winning a World Series is the ultimate goal for a player. Doing that, it was amazing.”
Five-and-a-half months later, that game-winning moment, that career-defining moment was on full display once again. Soler was back in Atlanta this weekend for the first time since winning the World Series as his new team, the Miami Marlins, played a three-game series with the Braves.
On Saturday, he received his World Series ring in a pre-game ceremony.
He was a member of the opposing team now but received a warm reception from the crowd, including a standing ovation during his first at-bat on Friday as Truist Park’s orangist played “We Are The Champions” and another as Braves manager Brian Snitker gave him the ring on Saturday.
“Being here is great,” Soler said. “A great feeling to share that moment with the guys.”
The Marlins hope he’ll help them create some of those memories, too. Miami signed Soler to a three-year, $36 million deal this offseason as the final of four position-player additions along with outfielder Avisail Garcia, infielder Joey Wendle and catcher Jacob Stallings to boost what was one of baseball’s worst lineups last year.
“He’s obviously a guy we liked, going after him this winter,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I like what he does. He’s a guy that’s pretty simple at the plate. Hits it all over the field. He’s a guy that’s gonna be dangerous as it gets rolling.”
The results haven’t been there yet as a whole for Soler. He entered Saturday’s game against the Braves hitting just .184 with 16 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances. According to Statcast, 54.5 percent of his balls in play have been groundballs and he has only hit line drives 18.2 percent of the time. His career averages, by comparison, are 41.6 percent ground balls and 24.9 percent line drives.
But there have been signs of progress lately.
It started with his seventh-inning double on Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals, a ball hit with an exit velocity of 114.8 mph to left field.
Soler then followed that up by reaching base in three of his four plate appearances Friday in the series opener against the Braves on a pair of singles and a walk.
“I’ve been working mostly on hitting line drives,” Soler said. “I’ve been hitting a lot of ground balls, so I’m working on that part, just elevating the ball and keep making contact because I’m striking out a lot more.”
Soler’s impact is going to come with his bat. It did for Atlanta. He was one of several trade deadline acquisitions the Braves made last season to bolster their outfield after Marcell Ozuna was suspended for the season and Ronald Acuna Jr. suffered a season-ending torn ACL. They also brought in Adam Duvall from the Marlins, Eddie Rosario from Cleveland and Joc Pederson from the Chicago Cubs.
Soler hit .269 with 14 home runs, 33 RBI and 36 runs scored in 55 games to help the Braves clinch the National League East for a fourth consecutive season.
“He was huge,” Snitker said. “Just from the first day he showed up. We ran him in there, and he did a really, really solid, very good job for us. All the guys [we acquired in July] did, obviously. He made an immediate impact and fit right in. The makeup on that guy is off the charts, too. Just a really good guy and great teammate. He played a big part in what we accomplished.”
That included the playoffs, although his success didn’t really come until the World Series. He had just one hit in the National League Divisional Series against the Milwaukee Brewers and had just two total at-bats against the Los Angeles Dodgers after missing most of the National League Championship Series after testing positive for COVID-19.
But he showed up against the Astros, and he capped the highlights with the big home run in Game 6.
“I could watch that homer in Game 6 every day, honestly,” Snitker said. “I love his reactions, what it did for our club, the whole thing. It will always be special to me.”
How many times has Soler watched the replay of that home run over the offseason?
“Personally, I watched it a couple times,” Soler said, “but my son, he was playing the same game over and over.”
.JPG)