Alfonso Soriano is Afraid of the Wall

From the Chicago Tribune, by Paul Sullivan:

It's reasonable to believe Soriano should be able to hit more home runs, steal more bases and come up with more clutch hits, as he has done all of that in the past.


The big unknown is whether he will be able to overcome his fear of the outfield wall after playing tentatively at Wrigley Field in 2007.


While Soriano's arm turned out to be an asset in left, he let several catchable balls fall on the warning track or bounce off the base of the wall. He tended to lose track of where he was or pull up at the last second, turning a potential out into a extra-base hit.


"I have no problems running from side to side or running to make a catch in front of me," he said. "The only problem I have sometimes is running backward because I'm scared of hitting the wall. But I'm working very hard in spring training to get better."

Do I understand Alfonso's fear of the wall, considering it's made of bricks? Sure.

Do I care? No.


You're getting paid $136 million dollars to play and win a championship for the Cubs. If winning a championship means you running in the bricks every single game to save a run, then you run into the bricks. There are Cubs fans around the world that would gladly trade places with you and run into the bricks if it meant a championship. I could say "Pain is temporary" or "No Pain, No Gain," but I won't because they're bricks. It's pretty obvious it would hurt running into them. Soriano could run into the bricks on opening day and get paralyzed. It just shouldn't stop somebody from catching a ball.


I've always found that to get over a fear, you take it head on and experience "the fear." So this Spring Training, practice running into walls.


By the way, Sam Fuld thinks you're a pussy, Alfonso.


Soriano Afraid of Bricks [Chicago Tribune]