Edmundo Israel Sosa (born March 6, 1996) is a Panamanian

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

for the Philadelphia Phillies of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). Sosa signed with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

as an international

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2012. He made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2018.

Career

St. Louis Cardinals

Sosa signed with the

as an international free agent in July 2012. He made his professional debut in 2013 with the

Dominican Summer League Cardinals The Dominican Summer League Cardinals or DSL Cardinals are a rookie league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals based in the Dominican Republic. The team plays in the Boca Chica South division of the Dominican Summer League. History The team fi ...

and spent the whole season there, batting .314 with three home runs and 27 RBIs in 47 games. He played for both the Gulf Coast Cardinals and

State College Spikes The State College Spikes are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in State College, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. T ...

in 2014, batting a combined .274 with one home run and 23 RBIs in 55 total games between both teams, and he played with the

Johnson City Cardinals The Johnson City Cardinals were a Minor League Baseball team based in Johnson City, Tennessee. The team was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 1975 through 2020 and played in the Rookie-level Appalachian League. The team wo ...

in 2015, slashing .300/.369/.485 with seven home runs and 16 RBIs in 49 games. In 2016, Sosa played for the

Panama national baseball team The Panama national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Panamá'') is the baseball team that represents Panama at an international level. Along with Nicaragua, they are considered to be the best baseball team in Central America, and ...

in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifiers. Sosa spent 2016 with both the

Peoria Chiefs The Peoria Chiefs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was established in 1983 as the Peoria Suns. They are located in Peoria, Illinois, and are named for the Peor ...

, with whom he was named a

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

All-Star, and the

Palm Beach Cardinals The Palm Beach Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Rog ...

, and he finished 2016 batting a combined .270 with three home runs and 34 RBIs in 97 total games between both teams. The Cardinals added him to their 40-man roster after the season. Sosa's 2017 season was limited due to injury; he played in only 58 games, posting a .288 batting average with one home run and 16 RBIs. After the season, the Cardinals assigned Sosa to the

Surprise Saguaros The Surprise Saguaros are a baseball team that plays in the West Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Surprise, Arizona, at Surprise Stadium. The ballpark is also the spring training facility of the Kansas City Royals ...

of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fille ...

(AFL). Sosa appeared in 17 total games in the AFL, batting .305 with seven RBIs, along with a .715 OPS. He began 2018 with the

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

before being promoted to the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

. In 123 games between the two clubs, he hit .270 with 12 home runs and 59 RBIs. Sosa was promoted to the major leagues on September 23, 2018, and he made his debut that night. In 2019, he began the year with Memphis and was recalled by St. Louis for the first time on July 16. On August 4, 2020, it was announced that Sosa had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, and he was subsequently placed on the injured list. In 2021, Sosa made the Opening Day roster. He received limited playing time until he took over at

after Paul DeJong was placed on the injured list in mid-May. On June 4, 2021, Sosa hit his first career home run, a solo home run off of Cincinnati Reds starter Luis Castillo. For the 2021 season, Sosa made 288 at-bats over 113 games, slashing .271/.346/.389 with six home runs and 27 RBIs.

Philadelphia Phillies

On July 30, 2022, the Cardinals traded Sosa to the Philadelphia Phillies for

JoJo Romero Joseph Abel Romero (born September 9, 1996), is an American professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Philadelphia Phillies from 2020 to 2022. Early life Romero was born on Septe ...

. In the 2022 regular season, with the two teams combined he batted .227/.275/.369 in 176 at bats, with two home runs and six steals in seven attempts. He played 42 games at shortstop, and 22 games at third base. In the ninth inning of game one of the

2022 National League Wild Card Series The 2022 National League Wild Card Series were two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of the 2022 National League Division Series. Both Wild Card Series began on October 7, with Game ...

, between the Phillies and Cardinals, Sosa scored a crucial insurance run in the top of the ninth inning. The Phillies went on to win the game by a score of 6-3. In game two, with his team up 2-0, Sosa caught a flyball off the bat of Tommy Edman in foul territory to record the final out of the game and secure the series win for the Phillies. On January 13, 2023, Sosa agreed to a one-year, $950K contract with the Phillies, avoiding salary arbitration.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosa, Edmundo 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Panama City Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball players from Panama Major League Baseball infielders St. Louis Cardinals players Philadelphia Phillies players Dominican Summer League Cardinals players Gulf Coast Cardinals players State College Spikes players Johnson City Cardinals players Peoria Chiefs players Palm Beach Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Surprise Saguaros players Memphis Redbirds players Águilas Cibaeñas players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic