Orioles Claim Livan Soto From Angels

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[btdart20]

LOL, just remembering last off-season's schtick was "Can he pitch?" after rando signings...  

[RZNJ]

47 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I don't know where you dug up that scouting report, but before you go off and Wildcard me by acting like MLB.com scouting reports mean anything, go look up his arm strength and OAA numbers on baseball savant and come back and tell me he can play SSs effectively. Westburg has a lot of shortstop time in the minors but I don't want him playing SS in anything other than an emergency. 

That was a lazy post, especially for you.

You are king of the backhanded compliments.  You said he doesn't play SS.  He does.  So does Westburg and Urias.  I never said he was above average defensively or even average.      He can play there in a pinch to a greater degree than someone like Norby or Vavra.  He has plenty of experience there.  

Savant is great but it seems like one stop shopping for you.

 

[Roll Tide]

1 hour ago, oriolediehard said:

Add another infielder to our collection.  This could be a steal, he hit well in 2022.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/orioles-claim-livan-soto-from-angels.html

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sotoli01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&utm_campaign=2024-02-08_br

And only had 9 ABs in 2023. Hard to imagine what the Angels are doing. Looking at his MilB numbers his bat is mediocre at best.  Don’t think his bat is as good as he showed in 2022

Edited February 8 by Roll Tide

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Ven6 said:

Another lefty hitting middle infielder. 
 

Just to push Jackson. 

I hope Jackson Holliday doesn't feel pushed by an acquisition like this.  Because he shouldn't be.

[sportsfan8703]

Was he hurt last year?  28 steal attempts in 22’. Only 2 steal attempts in 23’. Edit - I checked the milb game logs and he didn’t have an IL stint.

Poor player development from the Angels?  After having some success in the MLB in 22’, he can’t even crack the AAA 2B spot because they chose to ride with David Fletcher there. 

At worst this is just a move because we had one open spot on the 40 man roster. 

Edited February 8 by sportsfan8703

[Frobby]

An interesting fact about Soto is that although he only has a .670 OPS as a minor leaguer, he’s gotten better as he’s moved up:

Low A .564

Hi A .651

AA .704

AAA .736

Last year he got off to a slow start in AAA, got bumped back to AA, earned his way back and had a .774 OPS over 285 PA.   Granted, it was in the PCL   Still, he has made progress as a hitter.

 

[Keygans]

So.. when I said I didn’t think we were done, this isn’t quite what I imagined lol.   

[CaptainRedbeard]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

An interesting fact about Soto is that although he only has a .670 OPS as a minor leaguer, he’s gotten better as he’s moved up:

Low A .564

Hi A .651

AA .704

AAA .736

Last year he got off to a slow start in AAA, got bumped back to AA, earned his way back and had a .774 OPS over 285 PA.   Granted, it was in the PCL   Still, he has made progress as a hitter.

 

PCL offensive environment is crazy. The .736 full season line was only a 83 wRC+!

[Tony-OH]

6 hours ago, RZNJ said:

You are king of the backhanded compliments.  You said he doesn't play SS.  He does.  So does Westburg and Urias.  I never said he was above average defensively or even average.      He can play there in a pinch to a greater degree than someone like Norby or Vavra.  He has plenty of experience there.  

Savant is great but it seems like one stop shopping for you.

 

Savant is the place to find the information that is not tainted. It's literally the direct information taken from systems. Is it perfect, no, but it's a lot closer than every other bit of information out there, especially defensive information. 

You know when I say a gut can't play SS, that I mean effectively. You've been around here long enough and know enough to see that Maton is obviously not an effective SS. No team wants to play him there for anything but an emergency. You know all of this yet you are wasting mine and your time for some reason.

[Billy F-Face3]

All these acquisitions for middle infielders seem to counter the idea of Jackson Holiday breaking camp as the Opening Day left hand batting 2nd basemen. That is, unless they are strictly intended to play in the Minor Leagues. (I.E. Lewin Diaz.)

[Jammer7]

Competition and depth are good things. Two options, good. Injuries happen, so why not make moves like this and Maton? A full 40 man can be remedied easily, when the time comes.

I thought this was interesting from Melewski:

“Soto was one of the top signings of the 2016 international signing period and got a $1 million bonus from the Braves. He was ranked as the Angels’ No. 16 prospect in 2018 and was in their top 30 every year through 2023, between No. 16 and No. 26.

Soto made his pro debut for Atlanta in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2017, but after the season was one of 12 Braves prospects declared free agents by Major League Baseball as punishment for Atlanta violating international signing rules. The Angels signed Soto the first day he was eligible to sign with a new club for $850,000.”

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/o-s-claim-livan-soto-40-man-roster-is-now-full

[sportsfan8703]

The Angels 40 man is a wreck. They have like 17 reliever types in AAA/MLB on it. Our 40 man is just a different story. A guy like Connor Norby isn’t even on it. One of the other hidden values of drafting advanced NCAA bats. 

Soto is a flier/lotto ticket.  Maybe not a $20 scratch off, but a $5 one. We have the 40 man room to claim him and the staff to try and develop him. It’s looking like he’s the OD SS in AAA since we want Holliday to focus on 2B before his call up. 

[byrdz]