San Francisco Giants outfielder Jorge Soler will start the season at designated hitter.
Soler, who signed a three-year deal with the Giants worth up to $42 million, is expected to operate as the team's primary designated hitter this season, according to Bob Melvin. He is also expected to bat cleanup but could move around the top four spots in the lineup. Asked about Soler, Farhan Zaidi, San Francisco's president of baseball operations, said "It's a different look so I don't want to pin him to the cleanup spot, but you're talking about a guy who is going to play every day and be in one of the top four spots in the lineup, it's hard to argue that flexibility and some of these other things outweigh that."
In 580 plate appearances for the Miami Marlins last season, Soler recorded 36 homers, 77 runs, and 75 RBI with a 0.250 batting average and 0.853 OPS.
Source: Alex Pavlovic