2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #33 Giovanni Soto

Giovanni Soto – Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 05/18/1991 – Height: 6’3” – Weight: 155 – Bats: Left – Throws: Left

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

History: Soto was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 21^st round of the 2009 Draft out of Carolina, Puerto Rico. The Indians acquired him in a trade with the Tigers in July of 2009 for shortstop Jhonny Peralta. He ranked 9^th in the Midwest League in wins (9), 4^th in ERA (2.93), and 6^th in WHIP (1.17). He threw two complete game shutouts last year which is almost unheard of at the Low-A level.

Strengths: Soto is an athletic, rail thin pitcher who throws both a two and four-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, and changeup. His fastball sits in the 86-90 MPH range, but he has some arm strength to add more velocity as he matures and his mechanics are refined. His cut fastball is an outstanding pitch with good life in the zone and is very tough on left-handers as they just don’t see it. He shows a good feel for his slurvy curveball and changeup, though both pitches are a work in progress.

Soto shows good command of all of his pitches and has an advanced feel to pitch for someone his age. He is a very polished pitcher who competes well and gives his team a chance to win every time out. His good command and the deception he creates in his delivery with a quick arm are two things which will surely help his stuff play up more as he matures and moves up the minor league ladder.

From a statistical standpoint, Soto was very impressive last year considering he was pitching at the Low-A level at 19 years old. His performance blew away the performance of the likes of Hector Rondon and Jeanmar Gomez, two other similar Latin pitchers in the Indians system who pitched in Low-A at age 19 in 2007. His doesn’t have the fastball that Rondon and Gomez had at age 19, but his secondary stuff is more advanced. He is also a little bit better of a strike thrower than Rondon and Gomez were at 19 years old. The advanced command and feel for his secondary stuff really took advantage of the hitters in the Midwest League where a lot of hitters have poor discipline at the plate, hence the very good numbers last year.

Opportunities: Soto has a long, wiry frame which is typical of young Latin pitchers, so he needs to get stronger and add weight in order to better handle the workload as a starter and avoid injury. There are some inconsistencies with his delivery the Indians want to iron out, and they feel that when they do his stuff has a chance to take off. He lacks a go to secondary pitch and instead relies on a few variations of his fastball to work to hitters. This is something that he can get by with in the lower levels of the minors, but as he moves up he needs to develop his curveball or changeup into at least an average major league offering in order to remain a starter.

Outlook: Soto is not a blue chip prospect by any means, but he is very intriguing because of his age, projection, performance to date, and, well, because he is left-handed. He is a very interesting projectable pitcher in the lower levels of the Indians’ system, and while he is not one to get overly excited about at the moment, he is one to keep an eye on for sure. He should open the 2011 season in the High-A Kinston starting rotation.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2009	18	GCL Tigers	R	4	0	1.18	13	6	45.2	33	6	0	20	37	.209	3.9	7.3	1.16
2010	19	West Michigan	A	6	6	2.61	16	16	82.2	75	24	2	25	76	.248	2.7	8.3	1.21
2010	19	Lake County	A	3	2	3.77	6	6	31.0	22	13	5	11	31	.208	3.2	9.0	1.07
		MiLB Totals		13	8	2.43	35	28	159.1	130	43	7	56	144	.229	3.2	8.1	1.17

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