Padres Press Clips Saturday, June 17, 2017 Article Source Author Page Padres’ Yangervis Solarte redefines what it means to be FOX Sports Gardner 2 a dad this Father’s Day following his wife’s death Padres fall to Brewers on 10th-inning walk-off home run UT San Diego Sanders 7 Tony Gwynn Jr. calls Padres game on anniversary of UT San Diego Lin 11 father's death Every Sunday at Padres games is Father's Day UT San Diego Acee 13 Talking with ... Padres reliever Phil Maton UT San Diego Sanders 18 Adrian Morejon finally debuts in Tri-City loss UT San Diego Sanders 22 Double-A San Antonio clinches first-half title UT San Diego Sanders 24 'Qualcomm' Stadium no longer exists — now what? UT San Diego Krasovic 27 Lamet looks to bounce back on road vs. Crew MLB.com Mason 29 Padres hit 3 homers but drop opener to Crew MLB.com McCalvy/Mason 31 Diaz sees improvement in second start MLB.com Mason 34 Weaver throws simulated game MLB.com Mason 36 Mayo: Padres' Gore could be quick to bigs MLB.com Mayo 37 Morejon makes debut with Dust Devils MLB.com Rosenbaum 39 Padres On Deck: LHP Adrian Morejon Makes Pro Friar Wire Center 41 Debut at Tri-City Padres On Deck: Division Champs San Antonio Send Friar Wire Center 44 5 to All-Star Game 1 Padres’ Yangervis Solarte redefines what it means to be a dad this Father’s Day following his wife’s death By: Sam Gardner When Yangervis Solarte left the San Diego Padres in September to care for his wife, Yuliett, in the final days before her death from cancer at the age of 31, the then-third- year infielder was hitting .284 with 15 home runs and 68 RBIs, all career highs. Ordinarily, such stats would be afterthoughts in the wake of a devastating loss, but for Solarte, the latter number in particular kept returning the forefront of his mind as he and his three daughters, Yanliett, Yuliett and Yulianna, mourned mother Yuliett’s passing. “She always liked the number seven, for the seven days that God created,”Solarte told FOX Sports by phone during a recent Padres homestand. “So we always set this goal of 70 RBIs in a season. That’s something I was always striving for, pushing for. So I decided come back (to try to get to 70). “It wasn’t for me,” Solarte continued, speaking through Padres team translator David Longley. “I was destroyed at the time. I was really torn up. But I wanted to do it for her.” Brokenhearted, Solarte returned to the Padres after an eight-game absence on Sept. 24, one week after Yuliett’s death, and ripped a pinch-hit single to left field in his first at-bat back. The following day, the one-time New York Yankee was in the starting lineup against the San Francisco Giants and had an RBI single in the fifth inning of a 4-3 Padres win. Three games later, in a loss to the L.A. Dodgers, Solarte reached his magic number of 70 with a ninth-inning RBI double. And then in the team’s penultimate game, the 29-year-old drove in one more, bringing his RBI total to 71 — an empty accomplishment in the eyes of some, but one of immense importance to Solarte as he tried to make sense of life without his best friend. “Everything was for her,” Solarte said. “She always told me that whether she dies or doesn’t die, I can’t stop playing. Because all the goals I set for myself, they were for our daughters, and I had to be able to assure their future. So no matter what happens, (she said) I need to continue to play.” 2 “I know how cathartic baseball is for him and how much being on a field means to him and meant to his wife,” Padres manager Andy Green added during a recent phone conversation. “They talked about goals they had, and he went out and accomplished those goals. … And I think the joy of playing the game he’s loved since he was a little kid helps in the healing as well.” ***** The first sign of bad news came late in the 2015 season, Solarte’s first full campaign in San Diego after a 2014 trade saw him switch coasts and join his first National League club shortly after the All-Star break. Yangervis and Yuliett’s youngest daughter, Yulianna, had been born more than two months before her expected due date. Soon after, doctors determined the cause of Yuliett’s early labor: cancerous tumors in Yuliett’s liver. During the subsequent offseason, Solarte did his best to balance the responsibilities of caring for his wife and each of his daughters, often relying on his mother, Yanmili, for assistance. (Yangervis’ name is a combination of the names of his mother and his father, Gervis.) But as spring training neared, Yuliett was insistent that Yangervis pack up and leave for Arizona. “I didn’t really have a choice,” Solarte said. “I had to keep going.” Initially, the Padres did not publicize Yuliett’s condition, but privately, Green, then in his first year with the team, was surprised and impressed by Solarte’s dedication amid such turmoil — to say nothing of his production on the field. “To see the maturity with which he handled it was mind boggling,” said Green, a former major leaguer and a father of three girls. “I know, myself, if I was in that situation, I wouldn’t have been able to come to the park and compete. I wouldn’t have been able to come to the park and produce the way he did last year. “He was playing with so much more on his shoulders than any other man in baseball last year,” Green added. “And he handled it with class and with excellence.” If you ask Solarte, however, overcoming obstacles was par for the course. An unheralded prospect out of Venezuela, Solarte spent eight years in the minors, shuffling between farm systems with the Twins, Rangers and Yankees before making his big league debut. At one point, struggling to just pay rent, Solarte had to rely on the help of his uncle, 11-year major leaguer Roger Cedeno, to buy a car, as injuries kept him off the field for almost the entire 2009 season. 3 Eventually, after reaching the majors, Solarte was able to buy a house. And before the start of the 2015 season, with his life finally stable, he and Yuliett got married in a ceremony near their South Florida home. At the time, they never could have anticipated the challenges ahead, but throughout Solarte’s career, the goal remained the same: Securing a future for their daughters. With that in mind, Solarte signed an agreement last summer with Fantex, a sort of athlete stock exchange, which paid Solarte $3.15 million up front in exchange for 11 percent of his future earnings. In some ways, the deal was a gamble — particularly if Solarte becomes a superstar — but it was one Yuliett, knowing her time was limited, urged him to make for the sake of their daughters. “I got the contract so she could be calm and know that we had some security,” said Solarte, who wanted Yuliett to focus instead on enjoying what time she had left and savoring moments with their kids. “So to know that we could feel good about our daughters and set them up for the future, that was the motivation, and she supported that.” Meanwhile, the stoic Solarte was raking on the field amid the most unthinkable of circumstances. “Baseball was a reprieve for him,” Green said. “It was his escape from what he was going through, and it was an opportunity to be around guys that loved him. So he could show that raw emotion on the baseball field that he wanted to show in life. “As much as he was hurting, he still brought a smile to the clubhouse every day, and there were days I’d look at him and just be blown away by it,” Green said. “There would be days when you could tell he just needed a slow moment, but 99 percent of the time he was the same person he’s always been, and I think people were really blessed by that.” Then in January, Solarte’s persistence in the face of unthinkable tragedy paid off in the form of a two-year extension with the Padres that included club options for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. If he plays out the entire deal, it could be worth a reported $20 million. “He went out, year after year, and fought through the minors until his opportunity came, and even with all he was enduring last year, he secured a future for his family,” Green said. “So it’s very gratifying, as a manager, to see good people succeed, and he’s at the top of the list of good people.” ***** Solarte’s first full season without Yuliett by his side got off to an inauspicious start. A May slump left his batting average at .226 through 45 games before a recent hot 4 streak — he’s posted a .325/.417/.494 slash line with four homers and 15 RBIs over his past 22 games through Friday — brought his numbers more in line with his output from previous seasons. It is perhaps not a coincidence that Solarte’s turnaround lined up with the end of the school year and the arrival of his daughters in San Diego after spending the early part of the season in Florida with their grandmother — a surge you could say his manager saw coming.