Reporters at the time said he’d not taken to Calgary, that he didn’t like the cold air or that something in the Canadian water didn’t settle with him. It was like everyone wanted to apologize to me for my bad play, he was reported to have said. It gave him the hebejebies.
But he adjusted to Calgary, got the mojo back for a couple solid years, putting down 11.3 WAR the next couple seasons before fading to performances you might expect of a guy in his early 30s. Soriano was among the guys who led the Pioneers to the playoffs in most of those seasons, a guy you loved to watch because of what watching him play said about the human experience. You could rely on him, but you could see entropy working every month. He ran, but not like he did in his 20s. He found his way on base, and he studied the game, improving his base running and becoming an exquisite practitioner of the triple, which may well be the most exciting play in baseball.
So, yes, the numbers, they fell off at 31, and fell of further at 32.
Yet who could blame Mario Soriano. 32 is an age when most center fielders have already moved off to simpler pastures, but there he was playing his noble center field, interacting with fans and bringing more kids to the park every day even as those numbers were slowly eroding as Father Time mandates. At 32, Mario Soriano’s career had crested and his path was ready to play out. A couple more years in the outfield, then probably a victory tour and a highly applauded retirement complete with keys to the city and a soft landing in the Calgary Hall of Fame.
But something odd happened on the way to thirty-three, and then again something odder happened on the way to 34 and 35.
Soriano made 3.6 WAR in 2033, creating 10 triples, and stealing 71 bases in a season that had fans crying for joy. In the fields he showed flashes again. Grinning after diving catches and waving his glove. Then came 2034 and another playoff run. At 34 years old, the defense was back to the tune of a +7.4 ZR, but fans didn’t need the numbers to see it. Injuries kept him to 111 games, but in those 11 games he pelted pitchers to the tune of a .357/.412/.443 slash, stealing 67 bases and creating a miraculous 5.1 WAR.
2035, however, has not to be outdone.
The guy they call “Manic” has been so much so. In 99 games, the veteran is hitting .354/.416/.464, and has stolen 64 bases in 69 attempts. His WAR to date is a startling 5.5, which leads the Frick League by a very wide margin. It’s a season that put him in the All-Star game for the 6th time. A season that has his decrepit old knees serving up another +ABunch defensive performance. And it’s a season that has fans actively campaigning for Soriano as the league’s Sawyer Silk award winner.
Can a guy the chicks don’t love be a Sawyer Silk winner?
Seriously?
We might be about to find out.
But a set of even more interesting questions is (1) How long can this last? (2) How long can a 35-year-old play amazing defense? (3) How long can he run and hit? (4) And at what point do you point to Mario Soriano and say “Hall of Fame?”
The guy has 2800 hits now (#22 and rising, and first among active players not named Frank Thomas III). He’s stole 814 bases (#10 and rising) and turned a total of 63.2 WAR (#78 all-time, and, of course, rising).
Now? One more year? Two?
It’s a heady place for a guy to be when just three seasons back the glide path said Hall of Pretty Damned Good to suddenly be looking true immortality in the face.
So, yeah, here’s a profile full of a lot more questions than answers, but in the end, doesn’t that just make sense for a guy they call Manic?
