MADISON, Ala. — The Rocket City Trash Pandas are thrilled to announce that infielder Livan Soto has been named Southern League Player of the Week for the period ending on Sunday, July 10.
The award gives the Trash Pandas eight Southern League weekly awards this season and three Players of the Week after Trey Cabbage earned the honors on May 1 and Orlando Martinez took home the award on June 19. The other five awards were Pitchers of the Week, with Brett Kerry (April 17), Chase Silseth (April 24), and Coleman Crow (May 22, June 12, and June 26) starring over the first half of the season. The weekly award is the first of Soto’s professional career.
Soto played in all six games against the Chattanooga Lookouts last week at Toyota Field and was marvelous, hitting .524 (11-for-21) with one home run, four RBI, three runs scored, a double, and six walks while posting a .630 on-base percentage and .714 slugging percentage. Soto recorded a hit in all six games he played while posting multiple hits in four of them. His 11 hits last week tied for the lead in Double-A and tied for fifth in all of Minor League Baseball. Soto ended the series by reaching base in his last 10 plate appearances, drawing a walk or hitting a single each time.
Soto was at his best on Saturday night, going 2-for-2 with three walks as the Trash Pandas outlasted Chattanooga in a 10-7 slugfest, winning five of six games against their North Division rivals.
Soto is playing in his sixth professional season after originally signing with the Atlanta Braves as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2016. He then signed with the Angels after the 2017 season.
For the season, he is batting .308 with three home runs, 35 RBI, 42 runs, and nine stolen bases in 74 games with the Trash Pandas. Soto currently leads the Southern League with 89 hits and ranks among the league leaders in batting average (3rd, .308), at-bats (4th, 289), and on-base percentage (T-7th, .377). He is now on a 10-game hitting streak and has a hit in 20 of his last 21 games played.
Soto and the Trash Pandas (50-31, 9-3 second half) hit the road to begin a six-game series with the Mississippi Braves (35-38, 8-4 second half) on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. at Trustmark Park. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio.