2022 Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight: Jorge Soler Powering Up in South Beach
The 2022 MLB season is in full swing and we have another outfield installment of the fantasy baseball player spotlight series on Fantasy Alarm. After serving as a playoff hero for the Atlanta Braves on their way to winning the World Series last fall, Jorge Soler took his talents to South Beach to play for the Marlins, but the burning fantasy baseball question for him is can he get back to being a 35 plus home run hitter, or should we continue to expect less from him, and is he a player worth pursuing this season? He's always had a spot in fantasy baseball lineups due to his prodigious power, but is he still that player?
Jorge Soler Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight
Much of the expectations of what Soler can come from his 2019 season with the Kansas City Royals when he played 162 games, had a batting average of .265, hit 48 home runs, drove in 117 runs and had an astronomical 28.1 percent home run to fly ball percentage. While we saw a very solid 27 home runs while playing in 149 games, the question for Soler remains can he get back to being the big-time home run threat he was in 2019.
So let us start with why we are talking about Soler in the first place. He has been one of the hottest players in baseball over the last two weeks with a .682 slugging percentage and four home runs in the last two weeks. Soler is on pace to hit 33 home runs this season based on his current production and the rest of the season projections that are used by ZIPS projection system. While 33 home runs is certainly a fine number and certainly makes him a solid value at the 170 ADP, you have to wonder if he can have a hot month and push toward the 40 home run mark. Soler has all of the benchmarks of an elite power hitter. He is in the 88th-percentile for barrel percentage, he has a launch angle of 12.7 percent, and is in the 99th-percentile for max exit velocity at 117.6 MPH. Most importantly, he has been healthy and has played in 46 of the Marlins' 50 games so far this season.
If you are in need of adding some power to your fantasy baseball lineup Soler is a player who is worth pursuing (he is only available in 25 percent of Yahoo leagues so you likely need to make a trade) especially if you play in an OBP league where Soler’s walk percentage helps out weight his low batting average. It is certainly possible that Soler gets hot in the summer months and pushes toward a 40-home run season. He contributes a solid amount of RBI and runs, and at worst, it is likely that he gets to the 30 home run mark and provides you 70-80 RBI while playing every day for the Marlins — still proving himself to be a useful power commodity. Soler is a bat that I will be looking to pursue in my roto leagues where some of the outfielders I was hoping to get power from haven’t worked out yet.
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