Mariners Free Agent Target: World Series MVP Jorge Soler

The Seattle Mariners have been quiet so far at the start of the offseason. They have not made any moves yet, but they can and will change that. One way to start the activity this winter is to bring in some outfield help; the Mariners used too many infielders in the outfield last year, Jake Fraley was too inconsistent, and they need to upgrade. One way to do that is to sign World Series MVP Jorge Soler, a slugging corner outfielder.

While Jorge Soler certainly isn’t known for his defense, the Mariners have been running out Jose Marmolejos in the outfield, so plugging in Soler would actually be a defensive upgrade; Soler played 50 games in right for the Braves during the regular season. He is for sure not a good defender, but the Mariners can put him in the outfield on occasion, while giving him a majority of his games at designated hitter.

The best part about Soler is his bat. He is a pure slugger, as he showed on his postseason run with the Braves. Soler barrels the ball up, as his average exit velocity is over 91 mph according to Baseball Savant, and he had a hard hit percentage of 47% in 2021. The two years prior, he had over a 50% hard hit rate, suggesting he had a slightly down year in 2021.

In 2021, he hit 27 home runs, and had a huge power year back in 2019 where he hit 48 home runs for the Royals. He also played in all 162 games in 2019, and played in nearly 150 games in 2021. It is not out of the question for the Mariners to get at least 140 games out of Jorge Soler. He could play a majority of his games at designated hitter, and get some action in right field.

Soler does struggle a bit with striking out; he struck out over 23% of the time for the Braves and Royals in his 2021 season. He could be a possible sit versus some right handed pitching, but he would be one of the best 4th outfielders or designated hitters in baseball. He would be a good bet to play 90 games at designated hitter, and play 30 or 40 games in right field.

Signing Jorge Soler bring lots of upside for the Mariners. They would be getting a hard swinging, hard hitting slugger who barrels the ball up a lot, and would be a fun player to watch in Seattle, as he brings lots of energy with emphatic bat flips and home run celebrations. He also would probably only need a one year contract to bring him to Seattle, and there is no such thing as a bad one year deal.