Júnior Sosa

Júnior Enrique Sosa

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.

• Born October 3, 1990 in Caracas Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Júnior Sosa peaked at AA and then played for the Venezuelan national team.

Sosa was signed by Pittsburgh Pirates scouts Rene Gayo and Rodolfo Petit in early 2008. He hit .249/.338/.304 that summer for the VSL Pirates while excelling defensively in center (11 A, 0 E in 49 G). In 2009, he was much better on offense with the same team - .303/.400/.382. He scored 42 runs in 64 games, stole 25 bases in 40 tries and legged out 6 triples. He was 6th in the Venezuelan Summer League in runs, tied Breiner Soto for second in triples, was second in steals (two behind Dixon Machado) but first in caught stealing, tied Luis Sanz for 3rd in walks and led league outfielders with a .985 fielding percentage.

Coming stateside in 2010, he joined Gregory Polanco and Exicardo Cayones in the outfield for the 2010 GCL Pirates. He produced at a .296/.379/.338 clip and stole 20 bases in 26 tries, scoring 29 runs in 44 games. He was 8th in the Gulf Coast League in average, 7th in OBP (between Christopher Duffy and Jordan Scott) and tied Matt Lipka for 2nd in steals (2 behind Eddie Rosario). He slumped in 2011, though, with the GCL Pirates (.238/.319/.238 in 15 G) and State College Spikes (.195/.267/.256 in 22 G). In 2012, he split time between the West Virginia Power (.268/.343/.331 in 80 G, 22 SB, 10 CS) and Bradenton Marauders (.171/.189/.200 in 10 G). He tied Gift Ngoepe for 7th in the Pirates chain in swipes.

In 2013, he again played for West Virginia (.242/.310/.315 in 38 G) and Bradenton (.247/.303/.303 in 53 G). He made his Venezuelan Winter League debut with the Bravos de Margarita and hit .338/.413/.508 in 20 games. Despite his limited time, he tied Eduardo Escobar, Yolmer Sánchez and Gorkys Hernández for 3rd in triples. He only played briefly but very well for the 2014 Altoona Curve (.360/.385/.480 in 12 G). In 2014-2015, he hit .269/.364/.387 for the Bravos, tying for 7th in the league with 3 triples. He split 2015 between Bradenton (.263/.341/.395 in 20 G) and Altoona (2 for 7) to end his run in the Bucs chain. He fell to .231/.284/.324 that winter for Margarita.

Picked up by the Miami Marlins, he hit .259/.345/.289 for the 2016 Jupiter Hammerheads. He only batted .208/.266/.250 for the 2016-2017 Bravos then did not appear for them the next winter. He did make Venezuela's team for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games and was one of their top performers. He had two of their three runs in their loss to champion Puerto Rico, was 3 for 5 with 3 runs in a 5-4 loss to Nicaragua and helped produce all three runs in a loss to Bronze Medal winner Colombia. He hit .400/.438/.533 with 8 runs and 4 doubles in 7 games, outperforming the team's three major league veterans and played error-free defense in center (9 PO, 1 A). He led Venezuela in slugging (.051 ahead of Carlos Colmenares), runs (double #2 Colmenares; the rest of the team only scored 12 altogether) and doubles (the rest of the team combined for three other extra-base hits, all doubles). For the Games at large, he tied Yordanis Samón for the most doubles, tied former big leaguer Ozzie Martínez for the most runs, was 7th in slugging (between Eduardo Thomas Jr. and Jahdiel Santamaria) and 7th in slugging (between Kevin Ramos and Willie Vasquez).