"Four years ago, Soriano was an outfielder struggling in rookie ball. He hit .167 at Peoria in 1998 and was uncomfortably close to being released, uncomfortably close to being out of the game. But San Antonio pitching coach Rafael Chavez, then the pitching coach at Peoria, liked Soriano's arm strength and offered him an audition on the mound. In an empty stadium, on a sunny day in the desert, with Chavez and Price watching, Chavez saved Soriano's career.
"We were thinking that this guy better understand the importance of this opportunity," Price said, "because if he doesn't throw the ball with at least some arm strength, he's going to go home. He threw so easy. We had the gun on him and he touched 90 (miles an hour) and I thought, boy you put a little aggression in that delivery and he puts in some more work, there's got to be three or four more miles an hour in there."
It turns out there were seven or eight more miles an hour.
"If he were four or five miles under what he was throwing, he probably would have been going home," Price said. "You have to see some sort of arm strength. You're only going to convert a guy who has shown you he's got some tools, so you don't have to teach him everything. You want a guy who when he's starting out he can at least throw the ball past somebody." "
