Luis Soto has been rated by Baseball America as in the top half of our top ten prospects. He is 19 yrs. old and is from Bani, Dominican Republic. He stands 6'1" and at present weighs 179 lbs. He is a switch hitter who throws right. Scouts say he has an advanced approach to hitting for someone so young. He has above average arm strength,great speed and is excellent in the field.
Last year he played rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League where at the age of 18 he hit .261 in 134 ab with 5 homers and 16 rbi.
Baseball America rates him as having the most power potential in the system. It will be interesting to follow his development this year as he moves into A ball.

Please accept my correction. In fact, Luis is ranked # 7 in the list of Red Sox top ten prospects.

According to reports Luis Soto is now working out with the Greenville Bombers.

Reports are that Louis will begin the season in right field for the Greenville team.

that is good news for me i get to see the team every time they come to asheville to play the rockies farm team down there so i will try to get some updates on how he is doing when i get to the games. this was a good move with the log jam of ss that is ahead of him.

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Luis Soto played his first game with Greenville. He did not play the outfield but DHed. Here is part of a report on the game.Greenville lost the game 6-3.


The Bombers notched their final run of the game in the fourth inning behind back-to-back doubles from third baseman Andrew Pinckney and designated hitter Luis Soto to put Greenville ahead 3-1.

Here is a link to complete game story.

http://www.bomberball.com/news/news.asp?newsId=182

Individual Stats (Batting)
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS SLG AVG

L Soto 4 14 0 4 2 0 0 3 6 2 3 0 0 .429 .286
Soto's results after 4 games

Luis Soto's stats after 6 games:
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS SLG AVE E
22 0 5 2 0 0 3 7 2 7 0 0 .318 .227 0

After nine games going into Sat, April 16 here are Soto's stats

AB-29
Runs: 2
Hits: 7
2B: 3
3B: 0
HR: 0
RBI 4
TB: 10
BB: 3
SO: 8
SB: 1
CS: 1
SLG: .345
BA: .241
E: 0

Greenville is in first place in the Sothern Division of the league with 6 wins and 2 losses.

L Soto 11 GP, 41AB 3 runs 9 hits, 3 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 12 TB, 3 BB, 11 SO, 1SB, 0 CS, .273 OBP, .293 SLG, .220 BA

Luis Soto continues to slump. He is now under the Mendoza line hitting only .194. Good news in the last couple of games he has got his average up to .227

Luis Soto has been sent down from Grenville and apparently will begin play with short season Lowell when they begin their schedule. Having problems at the plate and adjusting to a new defensive position led to this move. Hopefully he will be able to get things together. It must be a confidence rocker.

Luis is now listed on the Spinners roster. Hopefully he will get things back together here and prove the scouts right.

Luis has begun play with Lowell and has gotten off to a pretty good start hitting .368 with 7 hits in 19 at bats. He also has 4 RBIs in 5 games. Let us hope that he will continue to play well here getting his confidence back after his poor start with Greenville earlier this year.

Luis after getting off to a strong start has slumped somewhat and has dropped to .271 with 13 hits in 48 at bats. He has only one extra base hit, a double. He does have 9 RBIs.

Luis Soto has continued to slip. His average is now .237. This player who is supposed to have all the tools is really having troubles this year. Is there a reason?

I believe he came into camp overweight. It's not abnormal for a prospect coming from the Dominican to put on a lot of weight during his first year in America. The culture shock is a big reason for this.

baseball america ranked Soto as the best power hitter in the Boston organization

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/featu...10s/redsox.html

so i went to go check out his stats and well, I was surprised (the unpleasant variety).

Edit: Wrong Thread

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In his last two starts, Luis Soto has gone 4 for 7 and his average is starting to climb back.He is now hitting .264.


In 108 at bats with the Spinners, he has 28 hits, 4 doubles,1 homer and 18 RBIs.

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Luis Soto got 2 hits again last night and has 6 in his last 10 AB. He has raised his average to .273.

Luis Soto has had a great week and has raised his batting average to .287 after it had dropped as low as .234 at Lowell.

Luis Soto has begun to show why he has been such a highly rated prospect. This young 19 year old has faced considerable adversity this year and seems to be on the righ track now. In the past two weeks, he has raised his ave. from .235 to .292 as of Wed. July 27. He now has 5 doubles and 2 homers with the Spinners. His OBP is .382.

Like you pointed out, his OBP is .382, which shows that he has learned plate discpline, something he didn't have at Greenville. I would like to see more power, but he has really turned it around. Nice to see him doing well after a very tough time in Greenville.

Luis Soto continues to hit well. He has now raised his batting average to .310 and has 4 home runs. His OBP remains at .382.

Luis Soto had possibly his best night as a professional today(Aug. 13). He was 2 for 4 with 2 homers,2 runs scored and 5 RBI. BA is now .316

A quote on Soto from the Lowell Sun:
"Soto has hit safely in 27 of his last 29 games, raising his batting average from a season low of .217 on July 10 to his current .314. He has 21 RBI in the Spinners' last 13 games. Soto is among the NYPL leaders in RBI with 42.

“We don't want him to cool off,” said Alicea. “We want him to continue to do the job. We need him to continue to swing the bat the way he's been doing. If he maintains his work ethic, and goes at the game the way he's been doing, he should be fine.”

Quote from the Lowell Sun,

"Right-fielder Luis Soto, considered one of the top power prospects in the Red Sox organization, has been on a month-long tear that has put him along the league leaders.

Soto was hitting .217 on July 10 when he launched a 20-game hitting streak. He has hit safely in 28 of his last 30 games with eight doubles, a triple, six homers and 32 RBI while scoring 24 runs. The 21-year-old has slugged .588 in that stretch.

Going into yesterday's action, Soto was third in the league with 42 RBI -- five short of the Spinners' record -- and 10th in the league in hitting at .314. He has already set clubs records for homers and RBI by a switch-hitter.

“Sometimes a player falls into a funk, and it takes awhile for him to come out of it,” said Alicea. “But Luis has shown a lot of patience, and now we're seeing what we saw in spring training.” "

Wasn't he born in 1985, making him either 19 or 20 depending on which month?

edit: Nevermind, he is in fact 21.

No, I believe the paper got it wrong. SoxProspects.com lists his birthday as Dec. 1985. There is another Soto in pro ball with the Mariner organization.

As of Sept. 3rd, Luis Soto has cooled off a bit. He is now hitting .295 with still 7 homers and 48 RBI.

Here are Soto's final stats for the 2005 season at Lowell:

Games: 65
At Bats: 248
Runs: 39
Hits: 72
2B: 11
3B: 1
HR: 7
RBI: 48
Total Bases 108
BB: 27
SO: 46
SB: 2
OBP: .377
SLG: .431
BA: .293

does this HRam/Sanchez trade mean that Soto may be moved back to SS for the future? he seemed to struggle a little shifting to the OF....

That is a good question although my initial thought would be no. The plethora of SSs has suddenly got a lot thinner though. Machado can play short, Iggy Saurez at Wilmington hit .233, Christain Lara at Greenville hit .232 while Lowrie at Lowell hit .328. The only problem is that Lowell is a long way from Boston in terms of prospect success.

One of the reasons that they moved Soto was not only because of the SS depth, but because he had put on some wieght over the off-season and they wondered if he continued to get bigger, if he was going to be able to stay at SS. So my guess is that he is staying in RF for a while.

Yeah, it certainly doesn't seem that long ago when we were all gushing over how many great SS athletes we had in our system...I had/have hopes for both Lara and Soto, but we shall see if they ever amount to anything. I do hope to see Soto in Portland this season at some point...

Personally, I like the way Lowrie plays and unless something changes between now and the next 3 years, it won't matter a lot with Renteria in there !

Soto got to play in right field in last night's Sox game against Northeastern U. He played about half the game and got 1 hit in 2 at bats. He had a RBI as well.

In Greenville's opening game of the 2006 season, Luis went 2 for 4 with a RBI against Columbus.

Luis is off to a good start so far in the 2006 season. In Greenville's second game of the year he went 3 for 6 with a home run, 3 runs scored and 2 RBI.

Luis Soto is now 17 for 54 for a .;315 BA. He has 5 doubles, a triple and 1 home run. He has 9 RBI. His OBP is .351 and his OPS is .851.

Luis Soto has been placed on the 7 day disabled list after complaining of a painful wrist. He will be having a MRI in Florida.
After 16 games this year in Greenville he is hitting .319. He has 22 hits in 69 at bats. He has 6 doubles, 1 triple and 1 home run. He has scored 8 runs and has driven in 13. His OBP is .342 and his OPS is .821

Luis has a fractured wrist and will be out until late June.

Soto returned from his wrist injury on June 22. After a brief rehab stint in the GCL, he's playing for Greenville in the Low-A South Atlantic League. He's hitting for some power (14 extra-base hits in 135 ABs), which is nice to see since he's one of the few true power-hitting prospects in Boston's system. However, his BB-K rate is not good.

[codebox]
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO OBP SLG AVG
135 19 39 9 1 4 23 62 6 37 .315 .459 .289[/codebox]

Cool update. The kid is only 20 or 21? I expect he can work on his strike zone. Wonder if he would be a candidate for the AFL or winter ball?

Won't turn 21 until December. He's still one of their most talented prospects. Not sure about the AFL -- there's a limited number of spots (6) and they don't always take their top prospects.

Soto is now hitting .281 with a .310 OBP. His Slg. Pct is .438. He has 4 homers in 146 AB which is a ratio of 1 homer every 36.5 AB. Like already stated his BB/K ratio is poor.

He was tearing it up prior to his wrist injury. And we know how players take a while before regaining their form from wrist injuries...

I agree that the injury undoubtedly has had a major impact on his return effectiveness. I just hope that he can heal quickly and progress to Wilmington next season.

I certainly has not been an easy road for this young Dominican. After returning from his latest injury Luis has had a hard time getting back in the groove. With just a game left in the regular season, Soto's stats include :
BA: .233
OBP: 271
SLG: .359
HRs: 6
RBI: 14
14BB/69Ks