Geovany Soto

Geovany Soto is a professional baseball player from Puerto Rico who plays as a catcher. Soto was picked by the Chicago Cubs at 318th overall in the 11th round of the 2001 MLB Amateur Draft. Four years in the minor leagues saw Soto rise slowly through the ranks to make his Major League debut in 2005. He was sent back to the minors after a few appearances and was only recalled again in 2007.

Soto had been batting at .353 with 26 home runs and 109 RBIs to his name in the minors and when the rosters were expanded in 2007, it was all but natural that he got a call up. Soto was named as the Pacific Coast MVP for the Iowa Cubs and post his second call up of the year, he averaged .389 with the bat. He was also chosen to start in the 2007 playoff series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Soon, he became the first choice catcher for the Cubs after his exploits in the series, especially in game 2.

In 2008, Soto hit three home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers which was soon followed by a run of 8 strikeouts at bat. In April 2008, he was voted as the National League Rookie of the Month after a .341 batting average saw him hit 5 home runs and 8 doubles to add to his total of 20 RBIs. Soto was also picked to be the starter in the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star game and was the first rookie catcher to ever be picked on the All-Star team for the National League. He also became the first catcher from the Cubs to play on the team.

Soto won the Sporting News Rookie of the Year award as well as the MLB Rookie of the Year award in 2008 for the National League.