Alfonso Soriano

Alfonso Soriano is a professional baseball player from the Dominican Republic who plays as an outfielder. Soriano began his playing career in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp. He was part of the training structure at the Carp Academy for Dominican Republic players and was promoted to the college team for 9 games in 1997. A .118 batting average with two walks was all he achieved in that season. He retired from his contract and as a free agent, signed for the New York Yankees.

Soriano was with the Yankees for 5 seasons and began playing as an infield player. He managed his first hit a year later when he hit a walk-off home run against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He made his debut in 2001 for the Yankees and was third in the race for the Rookie of the Year Title. By 2002, Soriano was blazing away at the American League with 696 at-bats, 209 hits, 92 extra base hits, 41 stolen bases as well as 128 runs. His 157 strikeouts, along with his at-bats, created a team record for the Yankees. In his final year with the Yankees, Soriano blazed away to create a record for most home runs to lead off a game, with 13, and also led the league in At-Bats, for the second consecutive year.

In 2004, Soriano was traded out to the Texas Rangers in exchange for a certain Alex Rodriguez, who would later become one of the highest paid Athletes in the world.

In May, 2004 Soriano became the first Texas Ranger to hit six times in 9 innings. The game was remembered for an hour-long 5th inning where the Tigers scored 8 runs in the top of the innings to take a 10 run lead. The Rangers responded with 10 runs in the bottom of the innings, to level the scores. Soriano was selected to the All-Star Game as the starting second baseman and hit a 3-run home run of Roger Clemens. Soriano was named as MVP for the 2004 All-Star Game.

The following year, Soriano came sixth in the season's list for stolen bases and third for extra base hits in the American League. He was 8th in the list for Strikeouts.

In the end of 2005, Soriano was traded out to the Washington Nationals and his $10 Million salary was the highest ever received in arbitration. He refused to sign a 5-year $50 million dollar deal with the Nationals and decided to become a free agent at the end of the season. To counter this, the Nationals named him to Left Field and the second baseman refused to take the position. This would mean a disqualification of the contractual obligations meaning his contract would remain unfulfilled and he would not be able to become a free agent at the end of the season, while also terminating his salary. Soriano gave in, and played left field in a move that would be permanent and Soriano announced that he would accept that position. Soriano reveled in his new found position and was picked for the All-Star game, becoming one of the few who had played in the All-Star game in different positions.

2006 gave Soriano a new high as he had 46 home runs, 41 stolen bases and 67 walks, his best performance ever. He became the fastest man to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases in the history of the game, after he took just 929 games to do so, beating the previous best of Eric Davis or 1,053 games. With his 20th outfield assist in September, he became the only player to have 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases and 20 assists in a season, a record in baseball. In the same month, he became the 4th ever player to join the 40-40 club after stealing second. Just six days later he became the only member to achieve a 40-40-40 when he also hit 40 doubles in a single season. He was named to the All-Star team for the fifth year in a row.

After refusing a long term $70 million dollar contract, Soriano signed for the Chicago Cubs for nearly twice the amount, $136 million. He thus became the most expensive player in the Franchisee's history. He began slowly, hitting on .270 without any home runs. However, he improved in subsequent months and in a game against the Atlanta Braves, hit three home runs in a single game off Lance Cormier.

He won the National League Player of the Month award for June and was picked as a reserve outfielder for the 2007 MLB All-Star game. He hit a 2-run homer for the National League in the bottom of the ninth. During the National League Central chase, Soriano led the team n home runs however, he injured himself against the New York Mets and was on the disabled list for several weeks.

Returning to the team, Soriano had a sensation month, hitting 14 home runs, 27 RBIs and a .320 batting average, in just 29 games. He helped the team win the National League Central division but the Cubs would later lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Division Series. He ended the 2007 season with 33 home runs, 70 RBIs and a .299 batting average. He also led the team in home runs, triples, strikeouts, slugging percentage and runs.

Soriano began 2008 slowly and was soon on the disabled list with a bad leg. His return came with a big bang and from .190 before the injury Soriano raised his batting average to .280, hitting 7 home runs in six games at one time. By the end of May, he had 12 homers and 33 RBIs but his defense was poor as he was asked to stop hopping for fly balls. This seriously affected his play and he was severely criticized by fans and critics alike. Soriano was voted to the 2008 MLB All-Star game but a recent injury to his ring finger meant that he was unable to take part in it.

Despite just 109 games in 2008, Soriano still led his team in home runs.