Jorge Soler spent less than half a season with the Atlanta Braves, but he will be remembered in glory forever among fans.
The acquisition of Soler, along with Joc Pederson and Adam Duvall, helped propel the Braves to the division crown. Then, he delivered two of the most iconic moments in World Series history. The first came in Game 4, when Jorge Soler hit the second home run of a back-to-back, giving the Braves a 3-2 lead, which held to the very end. The second, well, everybody remembers the second.
A go-ahead 3-run shot that left Minute Maid Park completely. It put the Braves on top, and they never looked back on the way to their first World Series since 1995. Jorge Soler would finish the series hitting .300 with three home runs and six RBIs and was named World Series MVP.
The Braves opted not to sign Soler the following offseason, and he inked a multi-year contract with the Marlins, a deal he just opted out of after being named to his first All-Star Game in 2023 and hitting 36 homers with an .853 OPS. Now, entering his age-32 season, he’s in line for another multi-year deal, and it looks like another NL East rival, the New York Mets, is pursuing him aggressively, according to Héctor Gómez.
Seeing Soler in a Mets jersey for the foreseeable future would make my stomach churn, but from their perspective, it would be exactly what they need. Pitching has not been the issue for New York over the last couple of seasons. Even with the departures of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, their staff is in pretty good shape. It’s their offense that has let them down. They need more guys that can put balls in seats, and few players are better at doing that than Soler.
Hopefully, it doesn’t happen, but if it does, it would be one of the few times over the last several years where the Mets did something that makes sense.
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