Neftali Soto Making Himself Valuable

 Neftali Soto has been in the organization so long one would think he was 30-years old by now.

The 25-year old, third round pick in the 2007 draft, is in his eighth season in the organization.

Soto's best position is firstbase but Joey Votto has a lock on that position.  Soto, who has also played third, short, rightfield and caught 10 games in 2010 in Lynchburg.

Manager Bryan Price likes the idea of having a third catcher and the reports on his fine tuning his skills behind the plate have been positive.

Soto had a comeback season in 2013.  He had started 2012 with and injury that caused a slow start but rallied to hit .245.

Last year, Soto, hit .271 with 15 home runs and 61 RBI for Louisville.

So far this spring, Soto has hit in six straight games.  He homered on Wednesday night against the Dodgers to extend his hitting streak to six games.

"He played winter ball and is getting regular at bats," Price said. "He is taking of advantage of it. Neftali has a nice rightcenter field approach.  He isn't missing pitches. The other part is he's playing really good defense at first and made a nice play at third."

Soto was a September call-up last season to make is major league debut.  Soto had 12 hitless at bat as a pinch hitter.

"He has been a solid player for us at Louisville," Price said.  "He needs a prolific season at Triple A. If you're going to play first, you have to drive in runs.

"Soto has been doing early and late work as a catcher.  He is trying to be a viable option. His workday is as long as anybody's," Price said. "His value right now is to be a corner infielder but if he can be a viable option at catcher, it allow us to use Pena as a bench bat.  We have good reports on his development from Mike Stefanski.  No one is going to say that he couldn't move up on the depth chart."