Come To Think of it: It's Time for Chicago Cubs' Geovany Soto to Step Up

I'm beginning to wonder if Cubs catcher Geo Soto is just a one hit wonder, like those bands who write one hit song and are never heard from again.

As good as Soto looked in 2008 winning the NL Rookie of the Year award, he's looked equally rotten so far this season.

He came into camp overweight and out of shape after mostly sitting during the World Baseball Classic in the spring.

Then he injured his shoulder, which has affected his throwing.

Combine that with an anemic .167 batting average and no power, and he's a major concern for the Cubs.

We need Soto to step up his game right now, especially after losing Aramis Ramirez on Friday to a dislocated shoulder.

Conservative estimates have Ramirez missing anywhere from six to eight weeks.

Soto joins Seattle's Adrian Beltre as one of a handful of players who had more than 20 homers last year yet have failed to homer so far this year. (Update: Beltre homered in Saturday's game)

And with Derrek Lee possibly joining Ramirez on the DL soon, we need Soto's power production to improve, not that Lee was adding a whole lot of offense.

Perhaps the early prognosis on Soto was right. Prior to 2007 he wasn't projected to be much more than a backup catcher in the majors, and that was best-case scenario.

But Soto exploded with an outstanding season in the minors and looked good as a late season call-up. Then came 2008, and the rest is hostory, as they say.

But wait, not so fast. Perhaps it's just a sophomore slump, but Soto looks like he may have slipped back into his 2006 habits.

These were the preseason projections for Soto:

Baseball Forecaster: .278/.352/.474, 20 HR, and 79 RBI. (BB%: 10; Contact%: 77; HR/fly ball%: 13; Runs above replacement: 20.8)

Fanball.com: .291/.370/.510, 23HR, and 81 RBI.

A one-year exception by Soto wouldn't be unprecedented.

In Rick Wilkins' first full season (after two abbreviated seasons) in 1993, the Cubs catcher hit 30 homers with a .303/.376/.561 line.

Wilkins never approached those numbers again.

And, although he wasn't a catcher, Jerome Walton offers another grim reminder.

Walton won the 1989 Rookie of the Year award while playing center field for the Cubs. He set a rookie record by hitting in 30 consecutive games that season.

By 1992, he was gone, and despite subsequent attempts with other teams, he never reached his potential.

We need Geo Soto to start playing like he did last year. Today would be a good time to start, come to think of it.