Alfonso Soriano

Did You Know?

• Soriano led all major league second basemen in errors every year from 2001 to 2005.
• In 2006 he led all left fielders with 22 assists and 9 double plays.
• His mother is the sister of Hilario Soriano, a former catcher for the Tigres del Licey.

Professional career

Alfonso Soriano got his start in pro baseball with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan, training at their Carp Academy for Dominican players. He played in Japan's minor Western League in 1996, then moved up to the big club in 1997. Wearing number 74, he appeared in nine games, going 2-for-17 with two walks for a .118 average. Soriano hated the grueling practice schedule in Japan, and the Carp refused his request for a raise from $45,000 to $180,000 a year. Following the path of Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, he hired agent Don Nomura. Nomura first tried to void Soriano's NPB contract by claiming he was a minor when he signed it, but that failed. He then advised Soriano to retire from NPB and try for MLB, just as Nomo had. The Carp responded by filing an injunction and sending letters to MLB teams telling them to stop talking to Soriano. After the Nomo situation, NPB officials had changed the Working Agreement without consulting MLB, so Commissioner Bud Selig declared on July 13, 1998 that MLB would treat Soriano as a free agent. The Carp backed down. Soriano signed with the New York Yankees in 1998, starting as an infielder at third base before shifting to second. In 1999, he made the All-Star Futures Game and won MVP by hitting two homers. His first MLB hit that year was a game-winning homer off Tampa Bay's Norm Charlton. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2001. That October, in Game 7 of the World Series, he hit a go-ahead homer off Curt Schilling, but Arizona won when Luis Gonzalez singled off Mariano Rivera. In 2002, Soriano became just the second Yankee ever to post 30 homers and 30 steals in a season, following Bobby Bonds (1975). He repeated the feat in 2003. That same year, he led the American League in at-bats (696), hits (209), extra-base hits (92), stolen bases (41), and runs (128), while setting Yankees single-season records for at-bats and strikeouts (157).