Gridley Little Leaguer meets favorite MLB player

OAKLAND, CA (MPG) – It all started with just a tweet.

One day before attending an Oakland Athletics game on Sunday, April 24 for “Little League Day,” 10-year-old Jaden Solis of Gridley decided to tweet at one of his favorite big leaguers, Cristian Pache. On Saturday morning, Solis sent his tweet off into the universe, just hoping to get a response to his video.

“Good luck today @cristianpache25 how many hits do I need to get today to meet you tomorrow???” Solis (@jaden_solis9) asked with two hearts and two prayer hands emojis accompanying his video message.

Later that day after a 2-0 loss to the Texas Rangers, Pache responded. The A’s outfielder greeted the Gridley fourth grader, whose Twitter bio says he has never missed a day of school, and asked if he lives in California to which Solis replied, “Yes sir. In Gridley California… You are one of my favorite baseball players and I can’t wait to cheer you on!” Pache let Solis know he would do his best to meet him the following day.

Solis told the Gridley Herald in a recent phone interview that out of all the players in Major League Baseball (MLB), he wanted to meet Pache. It may seem random, but it’s for a valid reason. Pache has been Solis' favorite center fielder ever since the 23-year-old played for the Atlanta Braves, which is Jaden’s dad Javier Solis’ favorite team.

“Cristian Pache came (to Oakland) from the Atlanta Braves through that Matt Olson trade,” Javier said. “I’m a huge Braves fan so Jaden has slowly become a Braves fan as well. So, (when) playing MLB The Show, he enjoys being Cristian Pache. When I had told Jaden that he was on the A’s, he was like, ‘Oh shoot dad, I really want to meet Cristian Pache.’ And I said, ‘Well, we know we’re going to Little League Day on Sunday, let’s reach out to him on Saturday before your baseball game.’”

Pache grew up nearly 3,400 miles from Jaden in Santo Domingo Centro, Dominican Republic, yet knows the feeling of idolizing a big leaguer all too well.

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“A lot of people on Twitter sent me the video of Jaden. I felt a connection with Jaden,” Pache told the Herald via an interpreter. “When you notice a kid wants to meet his idol or the person they admire, you want to meet them.”

Growing up in the DR, Pache played third base and looked up to players like Alex Rodriguez and Andruw Jones. Eerily like Jaden, Pache admired Jones because he was his dad’s favorite player. Pache later met Jones when he was a part of the Braves organization and informed the Herald that he remains in touch with the 10-time Gold Glove winner to this day. The young center fielder is already building his resume, joining his idols with a Gold Glove Award, except his was for his defensive ability in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) last season.

On Sunday, Jaden joined his fellow Little Leaguers on the field before the game. But after his fellow ball players left the diamond, Jaden and the Solis family experienced what would become an irreplaceable memory. Pache emerged from the locker room tunnel to an elated Jaden, his 8-year-old cousin Jay Solis and his 5-year-old brother Maddux Solis, who was named after Braves’ Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux.

“I was happy to meet everyone. Seeing Jaden's reaction, I had no idea what he was going to say. He had the happiest look on his face,” Pache said Wednesday, April 27, before the A’s beat the Giants 1-0 in San Francisco.

Pache signed Jaden’s jersey and gave him A’s gear and an autographed bat but was not expecting what came next. In the spirit of giving, Jaden gifted Pache one of HIS autographed Gridley Little League baseball cards.

“I felt like since he was gonna give me something, I felt like I’d give him something back that belongs to me,” Jaden said.

Suddenly Pache found himself lost for words following Jaden’s kind gesture.

“When I was his age, I didn't have my own card!” Pache explained. “I have his card in my locker. I have it stored away.”

Jaden told the Herald that he currently plays catcher, pitcher and shortstop with a desire to suit up in MLB one day. Solis also wants to start playing center field like Pache. At 10-years-old, Jaden is already competing in the majors as one of six players his age going against 12-year-olds according to his dad.

Meeting one of his favorite baseball players would’ve been more than enough for Jaden, but that was not all. After the A’s defeated the Rangers 2-0 on Sunday, Jaden returned to Twitter where he was bewildered even further.

The fourth grade Solis changed his profile picture to the one his family took of him, Pache and Maddux. What baffled the Solis family and several members of MLB Twitter was that Pache decided to set the same photo as his profile picture. Pache quoted Jaden’s original tweet about the picture with, “We have the same profile pic!” sent out to his over 37,000 followers. Jaden described the moment as “wonderful.”

“If you look at the tweet picture, the card that Cristian’s holding in his hand is actually an autograph from Jaden to Cristian,” Javier said.

Several verified accounts began following the story and interacting with the Solis family on Twitter including television host Montel Williams and former New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes. In the days after the game, Jaden went on his first podcast, received Pache cards from generous strangers and was featured in national outlets like Yahoo and The Athletic.

“As a dad, you do your best to give your children the best opportunity you can,” Javier said. “The Twitter platform for what I use it as has been a very good experience with the people I’ve interacted with.”

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Javier told the Herald that after Jaden’s initial video was posted, he shared it with one of his group chats and asked his fellow members to retweet the video. By the time Pache replied, the engagement had soared to over 50 retweets.

“(My favorite part) was being with my entire family,” Javier said. “I know that when we had talked, it was just supposed to be Jaden there. But Cristian was such a good guy that he signed an autograph for my little son Maddux and our nephew Jay.

“He could’ve just said, ‘Hey, I’m only here for Jaden,’ but he opened it up to the entire family and said, ‘Hey, I’m here for you guys. Let’s take a picture, let me sign some autographs.’ So, I think that was probably the biggest thing that I took away from that was just how genuinely nice he was and how much he loves the game.”

As for the game itself, Jaden said he nearly caught a foul ball and enjoyed seeing A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty launch a two-run homer to left field, which ultimately was the difference in the game.

“Not only (was it) an amazing baseball experience but I think Jaden is now forever going to be Cristian Pache’s biggest fan for the rest of his life,” Javier said.