Latin America Signings Thread

[BuccoFla]

Has this been noted before?  From MLBTR:

The Pirates continued their recent surge of Latin American signings yesterday by adding righthanded Dominican pitcher Jonathan Herrand for $185K out of the Dominican league La Javilla. Jeffrey Nolasco at Hoy paints an impressive picture of Herrand as a potential power arm: 6'4", with a 95 mph fastball backed by two plus breaking pitches and a delivery that his Javilla coach compares to a young Pedro Martinez. Pedro plus five inches—not a bad place to start.

Pardon my ignorance on this matter. Can someone give me some info on this Dominican League they are signing these guys from. Is it a place where players older than 16 go to try and get signed?

[Dignan]

Pardon my ignorance on this matter. Can someone give me some info on this Dominican League they are signing these guys from. Is it a place where players older than 16 go to try and get signed?

From what I know, it's a league run by MLB for potential prospects in which all of the players are fully vouched for as far as identity and age go.

[Traco Bucco]

SI's Melissa Segura lists the Pirates as one of the 3 teams most interested in Elvis Sanchez (#9 on that list).

http://twitter.com/MelissaSeguraSI/status/14782245462

Kiley McDaniel has video from last year:
http://vimeo.com/5270029

I'm picturing Elvis Sanchez and Elevys Gonzalez patrolling the infield side-by-side at PNC Park.  Perhaps we could bring in Mojo Nixon to sing "Elvis Is Everywhere" in a post-game concert.

[MAL]

According to DK......The Pirates have agreed to a signing bonus of $185,000 for another Dominican amateur, 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher Jonathan Herrand, but no contract has been signed.

[81omar]

     Herrand was announced as signed on April 7th by DK so he is not someone new. Don't know why the signing is still listed as unofficial though because the Pirates have him listed as signing on March 5th. He must be a late bloomer because hes been eligible to be signed since the 2008 Int'l signing period began

[WTM]

Dejan linked today to a list of the top 31 Latin American signing bonuses.  I'd seen it before and it's an interesting list, mainly due to the lack of success of the guys on it.  Most were signed in the last three years, which is too early to tell anything--although Michael Ynoa, who got the highest bonus, has yet to throw a pro pitch due to arm problems.  Of the others:

Wily Mo Pena ($2.44M)--Had limited success in majors, partly due to Yankees' foolishness in giving him a major league deal.  He needed much more development time than he got.  Had shoulder problem and is now out of organized ball.

Joel Guzman ($2.255M)--Flop.  Now back in AA.

Angel Villalona ($2.1M)--Awaiting murder charges.  Was struggling badly with offspeed stuff before the criminal problem.

Miguel Cabrera ($$1.8M)--Star hitter.

Jackson Melian ($1.6M)--Flop.  Never reached majors, now out of organized ball.

Ricardo Aramboles ($1.52M)--Flop.  Never reached majors, out of organized ball since 2004.

Esmailyn Gonzalez ($1.4M)--Age (by four years) and identity fraud.  Currently unable to get back in USA.  Got Jim Bowden fired.

Fernando Martinez ($1.4M)--Still only 21 and very promising, reached majors in 2009 but has had injury problems.  Currently hurt.

Willy Aybar ($1.4M)--Good UT player with Rays.

That's not an encouraging track record.

[wvbucco]

It just shows how hard it is to tell what a player is going to do based on some assessment of his tools, even in the major league draft.  Albert Pujols always comes to mind- a 13th round pick, signed for 60K.   What is it that they miss when they assess these youngsters I wonder.  Something to do with eyesight perhaps?   It's an interesting question. 

[BuccoFla]

The #1 prospect from the list posted earlier shows up on youtube wearing Pirates gear.

"1. Vicmal De La Cruz, OF.  Has the best toolset of any player in this class. Upside as high as anyone."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-SL7vWDvEk

[grm619]

The #1 prospect from the list posted earlier shows up on youtube wearing Pirates gear.

"1. Vicmal De La Cruz, OF.  Has the best toolset of any player in this class. Upside as high as anyone."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-SL7vWDvEk

looks like he was either just paying a visit to their academy or possibly giving us a hint of wher he wants to go??

[WTM]

Or he just likes black and gold.

[Benji6]

Maybe he has a Delwyn Young tatoo?

[PJB]

I didn't see this mentioned yet here, but from a PG article (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10148/1061398-63.stm)

The Pirates are not discussing at all their intentions for the coming month, but they are known to have an interest in at least two such talents: Dominican shortstop Elvis Sanchez, as well as a Mexican pitcher -- the source would not identify the pitcher -- and a wider swath of the high-priced players than in the past.

Maybe it is Luis Heredia?

From AOL Fanhouse (http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/05/17/two-dozen-international-free-agents-worth-knowing/)

Mexico

1. Luis Heredia, RHP: There are a couple other names in Mexico that could eventually be talked about in the upper tier of this International class, but right now the lone guy is Heredia. He has a live arm and is a projectable right-hander who is looking like a definite seven-figure guy. He is a little trickier to sign than most July 2 players because his team in Mexico owns his rights, so it will be interesting to see how that unfolds. Heredia is right behind Adonis Cardona in terms of top pitching talent in this class. Right now, it looks like the Oakland Athletics and the Yankees will be the most aggressive bidders for his services.

[aso513]

Any BA subscribers? Ben Badler put up his July 2nd preview but it is for subscribers only.

[Slizeezyc]

Any BA subscribers? Ben Badler put up his July 2nd preview but it is for subscribers only.

I do, what do you want to know? There is not much mention of teams within it sans talk of the Jays signing one of the top guys for $2.8 million.

[agent00]

I didn't see this mentioned yet here, but from a PG article (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10148/1061398-63.stm)

The Pirates are not discussing at all their intentions for the coming month, but they are known to have an interest in at least two such talents: Dominican shortstop Elvis Sanchez, as well as a Mexican pitcher -- the source would not identify the pitcher -- and a wider swath of the high-priced players than in the past.

Maybe it is Luis Heredia?

From AOL Fanhouse (http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/05/17/two-dozen-international-free-agents-worth-knowing/)

Mexico

1. Luis Heredia, RHP: There are a couple other names in Mexico that could eventually be talked about in the upper tier of this International class, but right now the lone guy is Heredia. He has a live arm and is a projectable right-hander who is looking like a definite seven-figure guy. He is a little trickier to sign than most July 2 players because his team in Mexico owns his rights, so it will be interesting to see how that unfolds. Heredia is right behind Adonis Cardona in terms of top pitching talent in this class. Right now, it looks like the Oakland Athletics and the Yankees will be the most aggressive bidders for his services.

Good call, sir. From Dejan:

"The Pirates are one of several teams pursuing elite Mexican pitching prospect Luis Heredia, according to a source in that country.

Heredia, 15, is a 6-foot-4 right-hander who has been described in several publications as having four "plus" pitches, in the scouting vernacular, meaning the potential for all of those -- fastball, changeup, slider and curveball -- to above-average at the Major League Baseball level.

MLB's first day for teams to sign international free agents at age 16 is July 2. Heredia's birthday, according to a March article in the New York Daily News, is within 45 days of that date and, thus, he qualifies for this class.

Other teams pursuing Heredia, according to the source, are the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays."