Cleveland Indians 2016 Top Prospects: #27 Giovanni Soto

After making his major league debut late last season with the Cleveland Indians, left-handed reliever Giovanni Soto enters 2016 as our number 27 prospect.

Who is Giovanni Soto?

Soto joined the Cleveland Indians back in the summer of 2010 when he was acquired from the Detroit Tigers for Jhonny Peralta. Originally a 21^st round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers a year earlier, being drafted out of Puerto Rico. He stands 6’2” and weighs in at about 190 pounds. He’s a rather lanky, wiry left-hander, similar to Rafael Perez from years past. Originally a starting pitcher (he even threw a no-hitter for the Akron Aeros back in 2012), he moved to the bullpen full-time in 2013 after dealing with some arm injuries that cost him most of that season. He showed enough this past summer to be added to the Tribe’s 40-man roster and become a September call-up. He made his major league debut on September 5^th this past season.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Thanks in part to being a starting pitcher until recently, Soto is a left-handed reliever that not only can come in and get one batter out, but also be stretched out for an inning or two. He’s shown the ability to get both righties and lefties out in the minors, using at times a four-pitch mix that includes a fastball, cutter, curveball, and change, though the latter two aren’t used as much. His fastball typically sits in the 89-91 MPH range though can touch 94-95 at times. The pitch has some downward movement, yet he’s shown the ability to control it quite well.

His cutter is his plus pitch he’ll turn to in order to get hitters out (seen some call it a slider but harder and less movement). He has a bit of a deceptive delivery, which combined with the movement on the cutter can create some swings and misses. His curve can produce some swings and misses as well but he has less control over it and his changeup. And speaking of swings and misses, over the past two seasons Soto has struck out just over 23% of hitters in Double-A and Triple-A.

More from Away Back Gone

In addition to pitching for the Indians, Soto has also pitched in the Puerto Rican Winter League the last couple of years. In 2014, he appeared in 37 games and threw 53 innings for the Akron Rubberducks, but then went on to throw an additional 45 innings during winter ball, giving him 98 innings on the season, mostly out of the bullpen (though he did make 6 starts in winter ball). He didn’t throw quite as much this past year, throwing 57 innings for the Columbus Clippers and Cleveland Indians before pitching an additional 17.2 in winter ball (making 2 starts out of 8 appearances).

One area Soto can run into problems is with control. In 2014, it appeared he was remedying that flaw as he posted a walk-rate of just 5.7%. However, that number ballooned to 13.2% last season at Columbus. He was still able to be very successful due to a .185 batting average against (BAA) but the free passes could become a much larger issue against big league hitters. He won’t be as successful with a strikeout-to-walk rate below two.

Where Does He Go From Here?

Soto is a pitcher I’ve liked since the Tribe first acquired him. I really felt he had the ability to remain a starter, but unfortunately injuries (and control issues) forced him to the bullpen. That hasn’t killed his value though as his stuff and delivery should play well there (and have to this point).

For Soto, being a left-handed reliever in Cleveland gives him lots of opportunities to make the big league club. With Marc Rzepczynski gone, the only other left-handed reliever currently on the Tribe’s 40-man roster is Kyle Crockett. The Tribe did bring in several veterans on non-roster invites, including Joe Thatcher, Tom Gorzelanny, and Ross Detwiler.

Soto will enter 2016 with all three of him minor league options in tack, which could possibly give the Indians reason to send him to Triple-A and give another guy a shot, but do not be surprised if Soto is able to win a big league pen job about of Spring Training. His ability to go multiple innings and get both righties and lefties out could make him very valuable in Francona’s pen. If Tito decides to go with an eight-man bullpen instead of seven, I think the odds of Soto making it go up even more.

Next: Indians Top Prospects: #28 Jesus Aguilar

That said, I still think Soto is probably a bit behind Crockett and the non-roster invitee guys at this point. He has less than four big league innings of experience and with the options remaining, they can afford to send the soon to be 25-year-old back to the minors. In any case, I’d be very surprised if we don’t see Soto in Cleveland at some point in 2016. He’s got big league stuff and despite being a pen-only arm now, still has some very solid upside and the potential to develop into a lockdown setup man at the back of a big league bullpen.

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