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Kansas City Royals: Checking in on Jorge Soler for 2019

ANAHEIM, CA - JUNE 04: Jorge Soler #12 of the Kansas City Royals watches his two-run RBI double as Martin Maldonado #12 of the Los Angeles Angels looks on during the fifth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium on June 4, 2018 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - JUNE 04: Jorge Soler #12 of the Kansas City Royals watches his two-run RBI double as Martin Maldonado #12 of the Los Angeles Angels looks on during the fifth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium on June 4, 2018 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Jorge Soler sat out a majority of the 2018 season due to injury. He should be recovered, and he will hopefully play a large role in the success of the Kansas City Royals in 2019.

The Kansas City Royals are set to begin their Spring Training journey for the 2019 season. Jorge Soler is back in business after injury held him out for over half of the 2018 season.

The Royals acquired Soler in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, shipping Wade Davis to the Windy City.

Career Statistics

In 2016 with the Cubs, Soler slashed .238/.333/.436. His next year with the Royals was not quite as great, with a slash of .144/.245/.258 through a mere 35 games played. In 2018, he appeared in 61 games and hit for a slash of .265/.354/.466.

He has an overall bWAR of 0.9 on his career, which isn’t great, but he hasn’t been in the major leagues for all that long of a stretch. Plus, he hasn’t even really scratched the surface of his potential quite yet.

2019 Projections

There is a lot of buzz surrounding Soler for the 2019 season. If you play fantasy baseball, several writers have named him a sleeper pick.

It’s possible that with the amount of outfield depth, since there are already a ton of decisions to be made regarding that lineup, Soler will take on the DH role. He has also been predicted to be the Opening Day DH, but of course, only time will tell.

He has been on the cusp of greatness before and fell just short, but hopefully his comeback from the toe injury will be what it takes to propel him into his breakout season in the MLB.

Baseball Reference also takes the liberty of projecting how the upcoming season will go for players, and their prediction for Jorge Soler is as follows.

They expect 340 plate appearances for the almost 27 year old. They predicted his slash will sit around .239/.324/.407. Not the greatest numbers, but it is just a prediction.

With the likelihood being that he may be a frequenter of the DH position, Kansas City Royals fans should have high expectations of Jorge Soler.

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