Angelo Songco

From BR Bullpen

Mario Angelo Songco Saldaña

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

BR minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Angelo Songco was one of the top hitters in the minor leagues in 2011 but peaked at AA.

Songco was twice All-League in high school. As a freshman at Loyola Marymount, he hit .321/.405/.528 with 22 doubles in 56 games, leading the team in slugging, doubles, RBI (33) and outfield assists (8). He was named West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. He led the WCC in doubles. Collegiate Baseball named him a Freshman All-American. He had no sophomore slump, batting .356/.432/.681 with 15 homers and 48 RBI in 51 games. He led LMU in almost all offensive stats. He was second in the WCC in slugging (.088 behind Eric Thames), tied for 4th in doubles (17), tied Danny Meier for first in home runs (15) and was 4th with 130 total bases (between Ryan Wiegand and Evan LeBlanc). He made All-WCC in the outfield.

In the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2008, he hit .261/.333/.514 with 26 runs, 26 RBI and 8 home runs in 43 games. He tied for second in home runs (two behind Chris Dominguez), was 4th in slugging (between Dominguez and Ben Paulsen) and tied Paulsen for 4th with 18 extra-base hits. As a junior at LMU, he produced at a .360/.481/.678 clip with another 15 home runs, with 65 runs and 63 RBI in 59 games. He led the WCC in runs (four over Ryan Wheeler), tied for 8th in hits (77), was 10th in doubles, tied for second in home runs (5 behind Troy Channing), was 3rd in RBI (after Channing and Wiegand), led in walks (41, 8 over Wheeler), led in OBP (.020 over Channing), was second in slugging (.045 behind Channing) and was second in total bases (145, 4 behind Channing). The Los Angeles Dodgers took him in the 4th round of the 2009 amateur draft. The scout was Bobby Darwin.

He had a strong pro debut with the Ogden Raptors (.306/.361/.583, 9 HR, 29 RBI in 36 G), earning a promotion to the Great Lakes Loons, where he slumped (.150/.226/.258. 1 HR in 33 G). Returning to Ogden for the playoffs, he was 3 for 7 with two doubles and a walk. Despite his limited time in the league, he tied for 10th in the Pioneer League in circuit clouts. With the Loons in 2010, he hit .274/.344/.446 with 30 doubles, 15 home runs and 87 runs. He tied for 6th in the Midwest League in runs. Among Dodger farmhands, he was 5th in runs (between Ivan De Jesus Jr. and Dee Gordon), 9th in doubles, tied for 5th in triples (6, even with Chance Gilmore and Alfredo Silverio), was 9th in home runs, ranked 10th in RBI (71) and was 7th with 226 total bases (between Jamie Hoffmann and De Jesus).

With the 2011 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Songco had a huge year - .313/.367/.581, 110 R, 114 RBI, 48 2B and 29 HR. He was third in the high-offense California League in runs (behind Daniel Carroll and Gary Brown), led in doubles (9 more than Kent Matthes and Matt Davidson), was second in home runs (one shy of Michael Choice), was second in RBI (8 behind Nolan Arenado), led with 310 total bases (20 over Brown), was 7th in average (between Kole Calhoun and Matt Long), ranked 3rd in slugging (behind Matthes and Jedd Gyorko) and was 4th in OPS (between Calhoun and Josh Rutledge). He was named the league's All-Star DH (he split the season between LF and 1B, having been a left fielder his first two years as a pro and moving to first base in future seasons). Among Dodger farmhands, he led in runs (19 over Hoffmann), led in hits (167, 4 more than Silverio), led in doubles (3 more than Scott Van Slyke), tied Jerry Sands for the most home runs, led in RBI (22 more than Van Slyke), led in total bases (21 more than Silverio) and was 3rd in slugging (after Van Slyke and Sands). In the affiliated minors, he had more extra-base hits than any one (four ahead of runner-up Vinnie Catricala), was third in total bases (behind Gyorko and Catricala) and tied Gyorko for second in RBI (again behind Arenado). Baseball America named him LA's #22 prospect.

Things took a bad turn when he missed the first two months of 2012 with a broken leg and he never recovered. He hit only .175/.281/.367 in 34 games for Great Lakes and .218/.278/.351 in 46 games for Rancho Cucamonga, giving him a .201 average on the year, barely edging over the Mendoza line. He rebounded somewhat in 2013, doing well with the Quakes (.310/.341/.491 in 43 G) but not so well with the Chattanooga Lookouts (.214/.281/.376 in 74 G), with 20 doubles and 11 home runs for the year. After a 0-for-12, 6 K, 1 BB start for the Lookouts in 2014, the Dodgers let him go.

Songco hit .269/.319/.464 with 25 doubles, 15 home runs and 66 RBI in 97 games for the St. Paul Saints for the rest of 2014. He missed the American Association top 10 in home runs by one. Back with the Saints for 2015, he did better, at .339/.415/.580 with 26 doubles, 6 triples, 17 home runs and 82 RBI in 96 games. He tied Ian Gac and Tommy Mendonca for 5th in the AA in doubles, also tied for 5th in triples, tied Adam Bailey, Vinny DiFazio and Denis Phipps for 3rd in home runs (behind Josh Mazzola and Stefan Gartrell), tied DiFazio for the RBI lead, was 5th in average (between Michael Lang and Phipps) and was second in slugging (.012 behind DiFazio) to make the AA All-Star team at 1B.

That impressed the Dodgers enough to re-sign him for 2016. First, he stopped off with the Philippines national team for the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in Australia in February 2016. He was one of two players on the team (dominated by Filipino-Americans) with contracts with MLB teams, the other being Brad Haynal. Hitting cleanup and playing first for the Philippines, he was only 1 for 7 with a run as they were eliminated in two games. His lone hit came off New Zealand's Andrew Marck.

Sources[edit]

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