“With two outs and the tying run at first, you have to play the outfield so the ball doesn’t go over your head,’' Soriano said in Spanish.
“It may not have been a catch-able ball, but if we’re positioned the right way, there might have been a different outcome. With two outs, I could tell my four-year-old son, ‘You know where you need to play,’ and he would go to the right spot to make the play. It’s not an excuse, and I’m not speaking badly about anybody, but I think that’s how you play the game.’'
Not gonna say Harper looked good on that play, and Soriano is right that in that situation he probably shoulda been playing deeper. That could be Harper’s fault or it could be a coach’s fault.
But (a) that ball was tattooed, thanks in part to Soriano not making a good pitch; (b) I question whether Harper makes that catch even if he’s back a few feet to begin with; and (c) what possible good does it do to call out your team’s franchise player in the media like this? Especially when said franchise player is a young kid going through a bit of a bad period right now and when the team is on the skids, in large part because of the bullpen.
This has been a nightmare road trip for the now-.500 Nats. Harper clearly has some stuff he needs to work through at the moment, but Soriano is not doing much to make it better.