Ariel Soriano

Ariel Soriano

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 160 lb.

• Born November 24, 1991 in La Romana, La Romana D.R.

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Ariel Soriano played six seasons in the minors then starred in France. He has been on the French national team.

He was signed by Tampa Bay Rays scout Eddy Toledo. He was 1 for 2 with a run for the 2009 DSL Rays in his pro debut, then hit .273/.340/.368 for the same team in 2010. Coming stateside in '11, he hit .220/.286/.346, playing mainly in the middle infield.

In 2012, he produced at a .255/.291/.365 clip as a utility man for the Princeton Rays, stealing 19 bases in 19 tries. He was third in the Appalachian League in swipes, trailing only Terrance Gore and C.J. McElroy. He was the starting second baseman for the '13 Hudson Valley Renegades, fielding .972 and hitting .267/.310/.414 with 18 steals in 24 tries. He tied Justin Parr and Andrew Pullin for 5th in the New York-Penn League and tied Manuel Margot for 6th in swipes. He split 2014 between the Bowling Green Hot Rods (.250/.284/.398 in 33 G) and Charlotte Stone Crabs (.276/.330/.429 in 31 G). The French Baseball and Softball Federation lists him as coaching in the Rays chain in '15.

Soriano then went to France to play in 2018 for La Rochelle Boucaniers, making their debut in France's top loop. He had a dazzling debut at .422/.479/.747 with 24 runs in 22 games. He won the French Division I batting title by .022 over José Paula, led in slugging (.021 ahead of Bastien Dagneau), was 5th in OBP (between Paula and Conor Lourey), scored the third-most runs (after Dagneau and Jacques Boucheron), tied Dagneau for third in hits (35), tied for third in doubles (8), was second in homers (5, one behind Dagneau) and was second in total bases (62, 7 behind Dagneau). That earned him a signing with the French powerhouse Rouen Huskies. In the 2019 European Champions Cup, he hit .353/.353/.706 with three doubles and four runs in four games. He tied Delano Selassa and Ericson Leonora for the most doubles and tied Gilmer Lampe for 7th with 12 total bases.

He helped Rouen with the '19 French title, producing at a .369/.423/.539 clip with 39 runs in 34 games, stealing 13 bases in 17 tries and fielding .895. He tied for 8th in average, led in runs (by one), tied for the most hits (52), tied for third in homers (4), tied for third in steals and was third in total bases. He was set to play for France in the 2020 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers when that was one of the first baseball events canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the French 2020 season was also canceled due to COVID, he signed with Nettuno in Serie A2 in Italy. He hit .456, third in the league behind Andrea Sellaroli and Omar Hernández, was second to Sellaroli in hits, ranked third with 18 runs (behind Sellaroli and Alberto Mineo), led with 25 RBI (6 ahead of Sellaroli), was third with six doubles, tied Giuseppe Mazzanti for second with two homers, was second to Sellaroli in total bases and was second with 7 steals in 7 tries (one swipe behind Sellaroli). When France resumed baseball in 2021, he played for the Montpellier Barracudas and had a batting line of .392/.418/.569 in 14 games. While he did not play enough to qualify for the batting leaders, he would have ranked 5th in average had he qualified.

In '22, he hit .338/.393/.486 with 18 RBI in 19 games for the Barracudas, going 10-for-11 in steals and fielding .871. He was 10th in the league in slugging, tied for 5th in doubles (6), was 8th in total bases and was 4th in swipes. He did get to play for France in the 2023 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. He grounded out his first at-bat, against McKenzie Mills and later singled off Gunnar Groen to drive in Leo Jiminian. It was his lone hit in seven at-bats in the qualifiers and he also made one error at third.