Introduction
Donovan Solano Preciado (born December 17, 1987) is a Colombian professional baseball second baseman in the New York Yankees organization. He made his Major League Baseball debut with the Miami Marlins in 2012.
Career
St. Louis Cardinals
Solano signed as an international free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals. He spent seven seasons in the Cardinals organization as a backup infielder.
Miami Marlins
In 2012, the Miami Marlins invited Solano to spring training as a non-roster invitee. Solano competed for the reserve infielder role with the Marlins, but the job went to Donnie Murphy and Solano was assigned to the New Orleans Zephyrs of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. He received his first promotion to MLB by the Marlins on May 20, 2012, becoming the 12th Colombian-born player to reach the major leagues. On May 23, 2012, he singled in his first career at-bat.
Solano's first career major league start was on May 26, 2012 against the San Francisco Giants. He went 2-4 with 2 hits and a run batted in. With the trade of Hanley Ramírez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2012, Solano competed with Donnie Murphy and Greg Dobbs for playing time at third base, as Emilio Bonifacio took over second base following the trade that sent Omar Infante to the Detroit Tigers. After Bonifacio injured his knee, Solano took over second while Murphy, Dobbs, and Gil Velazquez competed to be the starting third baseman. Solano finished the season batting .295 in 285 at-bats with 2 homers, 11 doubles, 3 triples, 28 RBIs, 21 walks, and 7 stolen bases.
The Marlins placed Solano on the disabled list on May 7, 2013, retroactive to May 4.
New York Yankees
On January 9, 2016, the New York Yankees signed Solano to a minor league contract. He spent the 2016 season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, and was promoted to the major leagues on September 18 following an injury to Starlin Castro. The Yankees outrighted him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the regular season.
Personal life
His brother, Jhonatan Solano, plays for the Washington Nationals and also made his debut in 2012.