Twin Bear Cubs Fight for Early ROY
Fukudome and Soto are each monsters in their own way
Though they're two very different players, rookies Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto are both at the very top of their game this spring.
It's hard to imagine two more different players than Kosuke 'F-Bomb' Fukudome and Geovany 'Go-Go' Soto. One's a rookie in name only, a seasoned professional meeting everyone's expectations after making the move across the ocean to compete in a new league. The other's a genuine rookie phenom who's had to prove and reprove himself to doubters who considered his early success to be a fluke. What they have in common, of course, is that they're both early Rookie of the Year candidates who are carrying the Cubs on their backs. Together, they'll be the key to the Cubs success or failure in 2008.
There couldn't be two rookies more unlike each other in baseball, but Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome are the best 1-2 chance that the Cubs have to get to the playoffs this year. Chicago hoped to fill two holes in their lineup by putting both in the lineup, and so far this season, both moves have paid off in spades, making a front office that's been beaten down in recent history suddenly look more than a little bit brilliant.
Geovany Soto was drafted way back in 2001 by the Cubs' Latin American operation, and starting from the age of 18, he followed the typical slow path that catchers usually take through the minors. Early, he looked like he'd be a defensive specialist, as he showed an advanced receiving ability and sharp memory for opposing batters, but lacked much offensive pop. As a 24 year old in 2006, his future as a backup/defensive catcher looked all but certain.
All that changed in 2007. Soto, who had complained of exhaustion in the past, lost almost 40 pounds in the offseason and applied a combination of physical and mental discipline to his game that threw his coaches for a loop. It also drove opposing pitchers crazy, as the formerly-portly Soto added 70 points to his batting average and a ridiculous 260 points to his slugging percentage while cruising to the PCL's Most Valuable Player award. His performance dared the Cubs to give him a chance in the big leagues, and when the club complied by testing him out in September, he promptly ripped through major league pitchers the same way, hitting a gaudy .389 for the month of September.
Soto's strong fall pretty much forced ownership to consider him for a full-time job in 2008. With a strong spring, he locked that down too, and through the first six weeks of the season he led all rookies in batting average (.314), home runs (9) and slugging percentage (.601). He was named the National League Rookie of the Month for April.
In his first full season, in fact, he's contending for an All-Star appearance (he's already been the National League's best catcher overall, and that's a group that includes Russ Martin and Brian McCann) and if he keeps up his torrid pace while the Cubs fight their way into the postseason, he could not only be a ROY contender, but an MVP one as well. He's already the best catcher the Cubs have fielded in the last thirty years.
The name right after Soto's in most of the same offensive rookie categories belongs to another Cub, transplanted Japanese superstar Kosuke Fukudome. While about the same size as today's newer, slimmer Soto, F-Bomb is five years older and a bit lankier. He also works from the left side of the batter's box, and has a shorter, sharper swing that's more of a line-drive weapon than Soto's power stroke. But when it comes to results, the older import has been right there with his homegrown rookie partner step for step.
The multiple batting title winner from Japan came to America with the usual cloud of questions. Would his bat translate to the higher quality US pitching? Could he play in cold and blustery Chicago, especially in spring? Even if he succeeded, would he turn out more like the fleet, slap-hitting, high-average Ichiro Suzuki or the lumbering power threat that Hideki Matsui became?
The answer, at least so far, is a little of column A and a little of column B.
Fukudome's .409 OBP and .305 average don't come with as much power as Soto's (only two home runs so far), or for that matter, Matsui's, but he's also shown flashes of better speed (he's on pace for 20 steals), and as he gets more comfortable with Chicago's ballpark, weather, and opposing pitchers, he's likely to show off more of his power and speed. Ichiro Suzuki, as many may remember, had a cold start with the Mariners before all of his adjustments piled up, and only after that learning period did he become the Super A-Number One Hitter we all know and love.
If Fukudome follows a similar path, National League pitchers are going to be in some trouble, and soon. He's already outperforming the first two months of results posted by either Ichiro or Matsui, and he's doing it in the Friendly Confines, which tend to get friendlier as the weather gets hotter. Big numbers could be coming soon.
This is a great year to be a Cubs fan. While many expected that the end of the "100 year drought" to be the team's theme this season, few could have predicted that the team of destiny would be fighting the fight with two of the league's hottest rookies as their deadliest weapons.
