Soto agrees with Piniella: Hill deserves more starts

Geovany Soto said Monday he might bench himself if he were manager of the Cubs.

The real manager, Lou Piniella, made good on his promise to start playing backup catcher Koyie Hill more as Hill started Monday night's game against the Astros.

"For right now, if you compare his numbers or his playing against mine right now, I've been scuffling at the plate," Soto said. "I'm coming from an injury, and I was playing one game on, one game off. If I was the manager, too, I would probably take the same decision because I'm not making his job any easier. For right now, I'm just trying to get back on track and help the club."

Soto, last year's Rookie of the Year, entered Monday 1-for-11 on the homestand and batting .212 for the season with 9 homers and 31 RBI. He hit 23 homers and drove in 86 last year.

Hill was batting .245 with 2 homers and 19 RBI.

"When I said I was going to 'lean,' that means I was going to catch Hill more than I have been," Piniella said. "But look, I still have confidence in Soto. He has been struggling, but he has been working hard. He'll get some playing time, but we're just going to lean more on Hill for now."

Piniella said he had no answers on why Soto has struggled. Neither man blamed this past spring's World Baseball Classic, with Piniella going so far as to call it "a convenient avenue to blame things on."

"It's been a little bit of mystery to me why he has struggled so much this year," Piniella said. "I don't really have an answer for it.

"I would have thought that coming into this season that he was going to have a solid season, maybe not .280, like he hit last year, but certainly a solid major-league season."

Soto said he will not change things this off-season.

"Just work more on my body and mentally prepare myself for a brand-new season next year," he said. "Just keep motivated and keep working hard. I know I can hit. I know I can play on this level with the best of them."