When Joakim Soria was 21 years old, he pitched a perfect game.
It was on December 9th 2006 in the Mexican Pacific Winter League. Soria was on the mound against the Naranjeros de Hermosillo, one of the league’s most historically successful teams, with 16 titles under their belt. His perfect game was only the third ever in the MXPW. Soria could have let the fame go to his head, but then he wouldn’t have continued to live out a baseball dream.
Soria was scooped out of the Padres organization by the Royals in the 2006 Rule 5 Draft, and was pitching in the majors a year later.