Donovan Solano

Donovan Solano Preciado (born December 17, 1987) is a Colombian professional baseball second baseman for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). Solano signed as an international free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005. In 2008 he was a mid-season All Star in the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins in 2012, and also played for the New York Yankees.

Donovan Solano
San Francisco Giants – No. 7
Second baseman
Born: (1987-12-17) December 17, 1987
Barranquilla, Colombia
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 21, 2012, for the Miami Marlins
MLB statistics
(through August 10, 2020)
Batting average.277
Home runs14
Runs batted in137
Teams
This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Solano and the second or maternal family name is Preciado.

Career

Solano was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia.[1]

St. Louis Cardinals
Solano with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010 spring training

Solano signed as an international free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005. He spent seven seasons in the Cardinals organization as a backup infielder, but never made it to the major leagues with them.[2] In 2008 he was a mid-season All Star with the Palm Beach Cardinals in the Class A-Advanced Florida State League.[3]

Miami Marlins

In 2012, the Miami Marlins invited Solano to spring training as a non-roster invitee.[2] Solano competed for the reserve infielder role with the Marlins, but the job went to Donnie Murphy and Solano was assigned to the New Orleans Zephyrs of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. He received his first promotion to MLB by the Marlins on May 20, 2012, becoming the 12th Colombian-born player to reach the major leagues, at 24 years of age. On May 23, 2012, he singled in his first career at bat.[4]

Solano's first career major league start was on May 26, 2012, against the San Francisco Giants. He went 2-4 with 2 hits and a run batted in.[5] With the trade of Hanley Ramírez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2012, Solano competed with Donnie Murphy and Greg Dobbs for playing time at third base, as Emilio Bonifacio took over second base following the trade that sent Omar Infante to the Detroit Tigers.[6] After Bonifacio injured his knee, Solano took over second while Murphy, Dobbs, and Gil Velazquez competed to be the starting third baseman. Solano finished the season batting .295/.342/.375 in 285 at bats with 2 home runs, 11 doubles, 3 triples, 28 RBIs, 21 walks, and 7 stolen bases. He was named to the Baseball America Major League All Rookie Team.[3]

The Marlins placed Solano on the disabled list on May 7, 2013, retroactive to May 4. He returned and played in 102 games, batting .249/.305/.316. He batted .316 with runners in scoring position.[7] He was named the Wilson Team Defensive Player of the Year, playing primarily second base.[3][8]

In 2014, he appeared in 111 games for the Marlins, batting .252/.300/.323.[8] In 2015, his last year with Miami, he appeared in only 55 games, splitting time between shortstop, third base, and second base, with a dismal .189 batting average.[9][8]

New York Yankees

On January 9, 2016, the New York Yankees signed Solano to a minor league contract.[10] He spent the 2016 season with the Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, with whom he was a post-season All Star after batting .319 (8th in the International League)/.349/.436 with 33 doubles (tied for 3rd in the league), 7 home runs, 7 sacrifice flies (leading the league), and 67 RBIs (tied for 4th) in 511 at bats.[11] He was promoted to the major leagues on September 18, following an injury to Starlin Castro, and in 22 at bats he hit .227/.261/.455.[3][12] The Yankees outrighted him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the regular season.[13]

Prior to the start of the 2017 season, he was a member of Team Colombia in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.[7] He spent the entire season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, hitting .282/.329/.391 with 44 runs, 29 doubles (tied for 9th in the league), four home runs, and 48 RBIs in 373 at bats.[7] He batted .330 with runners in scoring position.[7] Following the season, he played for Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Winter League, hitting .371/.400/.468 in 62 at bats.[7] He elected free agency on November 6, 2017.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On January 19, 2018, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Solano to a minor league contract. He played in 81 games for the Class AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers of the Pacific Coast League, batting .318./.353/.430 in 314 at bats.[14]

San Francisco Giants

On December 18, 2018, Solano signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants.[15] With Class AAA Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League, in 2019 he batted .322/.392/.437 with two home runs and 16 RBIs in 87 at bats.[16] With the Giants in 2019, he batted .330/.360/.456 with 27 runs, four home runs, and 23 RBIs in 215 at bats, and had a line drive rate that led all players in the league with 200 or more at bats (33.9%), as he played primarily second base while also pinch hitting, playing shortstop, and appearing at third base.[16][17][8] In December, he and the Giants agreed to a one-year, $1.375 million contract.[18]

Personal life

Solano is a Christian.[19] His brother, Jhonatan Solano, is a catcher who made his debut in 2012 for the Washington Nationals and currently is a free agent.[20]

gollark: *Why* are you calling it thousands of times? Have you tried doing it fewer times?
gollark: Strange coincidence-or-probably-not-actually-coincidence-for-some-weird-physics-reason, that.
gollark: I suppose it does look the same as the Newtonian gravity formula if you swap out the variables.
gollark: ... isn't that electromagnetic stuff? Why would you want that?
gollark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes%E2%80%93Hut_simulation

See also

References
  1. Devoto, Jeff (2019-09-17). "Solano a nice surprise for Giants | National". smdailyjournal.com. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  2. "THE MINORS REPORT: Change good for former Redbird Donovan Solano". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  3. "Donovan Solano Stats, Highlights, Bio". Milb.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  4. Navaroo, Manny. "Miami Marlins top Rockies, Ricky Nolasco moves atop victory list - Miami Marlins". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  5. "Miami Marlins promote Coghlan, Solano, DL Bonifacio; Adam Lind status". Sun-Sentinel. 2012-05-20. Archived from the original on 2012-06-24. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  6. "With Hanley gone, Solano to get time at third | marlins.com: News". Mlb.com. 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  7. "Donovan Solano Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  8. "Donovan Solano Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  9. "Donovan Solano Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  10. "Es un sueño llegar al Real Madrid del béisbol: Dónovan Solano". El Heraldo (in Spanish). 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  11. "2016 International League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  12. "Lohud Yankees Blog: Yanks add Solano in wake of Castro's injury". Lohud.com. 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  13. "Lohud Yankees Blog: Roster cleanup continues with Solano outrighted". Lohud.com. 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  14. "2018 Oklahoma City Dodgers Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  15. Eddy, Matt (January 12, 2019). "Minor League Transactions: Dec 19 - Jan 10". Baseball America. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  16. "Donovan Solano Minor & Winter Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  17. Murphy, Bryan (2019-11-07). "POLL: Who is the Giants' Batter of the Year for 2019?". McCovey Chronicles. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  18. "Donovan Solano and Giants agree on contract"
  19. Mercer, Kevin. "S.F. Giants' Donovan Solano leads MLB in batting as he praises God". Sports Spectrum. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  20. Kilgore, Adam (2012-05-29). "Jhonatan Solano greets his brother Donovan Solano in the majors with their parents watching". Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
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