José Solís

• Born March 27, 1968

Biographical Information

Jose Solis played for the Panamanian national team. He led the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games with 13 hits. In the 1994 Baseball World Cup, he hit .433/.452/.567 with 13 putouts, 2 assists and no errors as Panama's right fielder; he made the Cup's top 10 in average. He helped them to a Gold in the 1997 Central American Games. He was much worse (.207/.200/.379, 11 PO, 2 E) in the 1998 Baseball World Cup than in 1994 yet produced more runs (a team-high 7 RBI to go with 5 RBI) than he had in his statistically superior 1994 Cup.

He was excellent in his career in Panama. He began as a pitcher in 1984 and did not move to being a position player until 1989, yet still won four batting titles and two MVPs. In 1995, he had the second four-homer game in Panamanian annals, led the league with 34 hits and was MVP for Los Santos. The next year, he led in hits (37) and average (.521) and became the first repeat MVP in over 20 years. In 1997, he won a second batting crown (.565). He followed with a third (.486) in 1998 and led in hits (35). In 2000, he got his 4th batting championship at .366, the first player to accomplish that. Despite only having been a position player from 1989-2002, his 532 hits were 12th-most in league history from 1944-2013.

He coached for Panama in the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games.

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• A History of Cuban Baseball by Peter Bjarkman
• Beisboldepanama.com