THE RISE OF SOLARTE

There are quite a few who might not know who Yangervis Solarte is. I'm here to tell you about the native of Valencia, Venezuela. 

Yangervis has been on the baseball scene since 2006 where played in the Dominican Summer League under the Twins organization at the age of 18. Since then, he's traveled throughout the minors waiting and hoping to get a call to the Bigs. It wasn't until 2012 where he finally saw AAA action at Round Rock Express for the Texas Rangers. He spent two seasons there and attended Spring Training with the Rangers with the chance to win a bench role at some point. 

Solarte sat by the phone waiting for his call up towards the end of the 2013 season. That too, never happened.  

Solarte continued to work and waited for a chance to make an impression with someone. Solarte is now in Tampa with the Yankees as a non-roster invitee and again, has a chance to open eyes. Guess what? He is opening eyes thus far! 

The young 26 year old brings some credentials to camp. He's a versatile position player who played all over the infield and everywhere in the outfield. That is something that can make a player attractive at any camp. With question marks in our infield, Solarte could be given a very close look. 

He's also a switch hitter, something the Yankees could always use. He's not exactly a power hitter at the plate considering he's hit for only 23 home runs in his 2 seasons at Round Rock, but on the upside, he is definitely a run producer. Again, something the Yankees can use with the ever so dreading stat of "Runners Left On Base" the last few years. In those, two seasons in AAA, his RBIs went from 54 to 75 which is definitely a jump and will drive up his value for consideration somewhere down the line. 

As for work ethic, the kid is highly eager to make the team and wants to prove his worth... not to the fans, but to himself. We like that here at BYB.  It's never anyones ultimate dream to be a career minor leaguer. All Solarte knows is that in this game you have to be patient. That advice is coming from his uncle, former St. Louis Cardinal Roger Cedeno. 

For Solarte, it's not about showing the Yankee higher ups what he has, and "call me later". For him, it's about, "I am here, and I want to make it on this Yankee club right now!" 

As Bryan Hoch wrote on MLB.com when he quite Solarte:

"I'm tired of the Minors... I feel that I have done everything I could do. I love playing baseball, I have worked so hard, I have met every goal that I had. Now I feel that the next challenge is the Major Leagues."

Well Solarte, Yankee Universe is watching... show us what you got!


 
Rudy Laurens
BYB Writer

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