Soler, Abreu, Yordan and the dream of 40 home runs

By Juan Paez

Despite having great home runs throughout history, there is a fact that has not been very common in the Cuban army in the Major Leagues: the 40 home runs. Although Cuba is one of the countries that exports the most talent to the Major Leagues, only four batters have seasons of 40+ full-round swings: Jorge SolerRafael Palmeiro, José Canseco and Tony Pérez.

But there is one feat that has become particularly elusive: pairing Cuban sluggers with that many home runs in a year. In fact, the only time it has happened so far was in 1998, when Canseco hit 46 bombs and Palmeiro sent it flying 43 times.

After them, who?

2022 could be a good opportunity to repeat that feat, to have a flashback to the explosive days of Canseco and Palmeiro. And, in particular, a trident of strikers could be at the forefront of the possibilities, the trio made up of Soler, Joseph Abreu and Yordan Alvarez.

Soler already knows what it is to connect 40 or more shots. In 2019, a memorable year for him, he became the Cuban with the most home runs in a campaign (48), surpassing Palmeiro’s 47 (1999, 2001) on the last day of the regular round. And not to go that far, in 2021 the same player showed that, if he gets hot, he can hit a good number of home runs in a short period of time. Proof of this are the 14 he registered with the Atlanta Braves in just 55 games last year.

As for Abreu, the first baseman for the Chicago White Sox has several important achievements in his record: Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, RBI leader, Silver Sluggers, etc., but the 40 home runs remained on his horizon. In 2022, Pito will have another chance to reach four dozen, after finishing with 36 in 2014 and 33 in 2017 and 2019.

Pito’s case is quite interesting. The man from Cienfuegos has the power to be around 30, but if he experiences a new surge of power like the one he experienced in 2020, the 40 homers would look very accessible to Abreu in what will be the last year of his contract. In 2020, Abreu hit the ball out of the park in 7.3 percent of his appearances, the most of his career.

Moving on to the hulking left-hander for the Houston Astros, Yordan Alvarez appears to be the most likely to drop 40 hits this year. The 24-year-old slugger is among the strongest hitters in baseball and is coming off 33 long drives in what was his first full season in the Major Leagues.

These three Cuban figures have clear chances, especially Álvarez and Soler, to reach 40 home runs and, why not?, do it in the same tournament to match the forgotten feat of Canseco and Palmeiro. One of the reasons to look forward to the 2022 Major League Baseball campaign.