Soriano = better version of Randall Simon

[Magnetic Curses]

Simon struck out in roughly 9% of his ABs during his entire career.

Soriano has struck out in roughly 22% of his ABs during his entire career.

 

I think a better Simon comparison would be Vlad (obviously despite the huge talent gap). Vlad is a bad ball hitter but strikes out only 12% of the time.

 

actually vlad fits into the category of "bad ball hitter", with pujols and aram. they don't strike out much because they're good at hitting pretty much anything effectively.

[wrigley23]

what sully said. Vlad is one of the best bad ball hitters. He has very good hand-eye coordination & hits the ball where it's pitched. Soriano does not have an eye for the plate. He guesses & does not pick the ball up from the pitcher. If he guesses wrong and/or the ball is not in his zone then he whiffs. He is a good fastball hitter as he has quick hands, but the problem is that pitchers know this. They get him to chase/flail at offspeed pitches & get him in the hole. This is the main reason I rag on him at the top. With no one on base, there is not as much stress on the pitcher to give him strikes. Plus the fact that he is not much of a base stealing threat anymore. The fear from Soriano at the plate & on the basepaths is certainly lessened & maybe gone altogether.

[Derwood]

if Soriano would just hit a hotdog racer at Miller Park, then I could see the similarity