CUBAN PIPELINE CONTINUES
The White Sox’s history landing Cuban players in the international market has been well documented and continued to shine during this most recent signing period.
“There’s no doubt that everybody in baseball in the U.S. or outside knows about the history that the White Sox have with Cuban players,” said Paddy in a media conference call last week. “For me, coming into this organization after signing Cuban players elsewhere it was like icing on the cake. We know these players. We understand these players. The system is in place to progress through. It helps because everybody in baseball knows the White Sox follow Cuban players and once they’re out there, there’s always an opportunity to sign with us.”
Paddy’s official title is: Special Assistant to the General Manager-International Operations. However, the international marketplace is basically his show when decision making occurs in that segment of the franchise. José Abreu and Luis Robert are the big ticket items that have been acquired by the White Sox under Paddy but signing players from the island has become an annual occurrence.
Of the top 30 prospects in the system currently, four Cubans were signed by the international scouts. Yoelqui Cespédes and Norge Vera were the prizes for the organization during the 2021 signing period. The prior year, infielder Yolbert Sánchez was added to the mix as well. 19-year-old infielder Bryan Ramos was signed back in 2018 for $300K.
Cespédes hit eight homers during his professional debut and posted a 108 wRC+ in Double-A after finishing the season in Birmingham. The 5-9 outfielder displayed a plus throwing arm and speed while earning a berth in the Futures Game. The 24-year-old began his season in High-A with Winston-Salem and posted a 127 wRC+ after a significant layoff. 2022 will be an important year for the outfielder.
Vera, meanwhile, never made it stateside in 2021 but he struck out 34 hitters and walked just five in 19 innings in the Dominican Summer League. The 21-year-old righty is throwing in the high 90’s according to reports and he’s the highest upside pitcher in the entire system. He will begin 2022 with a full season affiliate.
Sánchez is a 24-year-old infielder that was lauded for his defensive ability when signed by the White Sox back in 2019. The 5-11 180 pounder has already exceeded expectations offensively and he could be in the mix for a utility infield job in the majors at some point in 2022. The right handed hitting prospect posted a league average 99 wRC+ in Winston-Salem to start off 2021. He finished the season hitting .343/.369/.469 in 39 games with Birmingham after earning a promotion to Double-A. Yolbert posted a 132 wRC+ with the Barons and hit nine homers on the year. He doesn’t strike out often and plays plus defense on the infield. Bryan Ramos will play in Winston-Salem as a 20-year-old this year after hitting 13 homers and walking at a 10% clip in High-A.
OSCAR COLÃS IS HERE
The latest addition to the Pale Hose is 23-year-old outfielder Oscar Colás and he joined the organization after signing for $2.7 million late last month. The organization has a deep history with the outfielder and Paddy clarified how far back his interest went.
Obviously, the history that we have with Oscar goes back to 2015. I saw him in Japan and with the Cuban National Team along with Robert, Yolbert. Tools from the get go were big. He has an 80-arm with accuracy and the ability to play the outfield. His ability to play the outfield was very advanced for a kid that age. Obviously the bat and the power he has is something that is very attractive. The delay in him getting back on the field is somewhat of a concern but he’s still just a kid at 23-years-old and it’s almost like a guy going through the minor league system. The good thing with Oscar is that he played in Japan at the professional level already so the slight interruption we had because he was waiting to sign isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Marco Paddy on Oscar Colás
Colás has familiarity with other recent additions to the White Sox’s farm system due to extensive baseball roots in Cuba. The 23-year-old knows Robert and Vera and has played on teams and in competitions with Yolbert Sánchez and Yoelqui Cespèdes. It should help with his transition to the game in the states this year.
“We expect him to be in spring training right away. We expect him to be in the states as soon as his Visa process is over,” Paddy said. Winston-Salem seems like the appropriate first stop on the minor league tour for Colás and he should repeat the path charted by Cespédes this past season.
Paddy ensures that the 23-year-old slugger will be ready to go after the long layoff due to the toughness he possesses and perseverance he’s faced.
“He won’t be intimidated by this new experience,” Paddy said. “I remember in Japan, he was playing on the Cuban national team at first base; he came in and pitched an inning and then played right field because he wanted to win so bad. Right away you see a guy with desire, hunger and ability to compete. You always remember that with guys. This kid is very focused on what he needs to do. He wants to win and be successful.”
The White Sox believe that Oscar Colás will be an impact big leaguer as a position player despite some history on the mound as well. Reports have indicated that Colás could run it up near 95 mph from the left side and disingenuous and unfair comparison to Shohei Ohtani further amplified the two-way dreams of fans and media. Paddy clarified that developing as a pitcher would take too long and the position player path made the most sense.
“The times that we’ve seen him, he can pitch somewhat, but he’s really not a pitcher,” Paddy explained. “All good athletes pitch at some point in their career and he did it on a part time basis with the Cuban National Team and in Japan but he wants to be a position player and feels that he has a better chance of being successful as a position player. We feel like his development as a pitcher would take a lot longer than developing as a position player too.”
Marco Paddy has also intimated that the organization recognizes that Colás being 23-years-old has benefits and drawbacks. He’s more advanced than younger prospects but he’s had a longer layoff than most and playing stateside is often a substantial transition.
“He’s advanced,” said Paddy. “There’s no secret that he played in Cuba; those guys are for the most part, advanced. National Team for a few years. Experience in Japan allowed him to play at a higher level. With his experience, he’s got a quicker path to the big leagues but all that stuff is determined once the player really gets engaged over here in the states and how he progresses. Our player development people will determine when he’s ready.”
The outfielder hasn’t played organized baseball in a couple years however and similar to other advanced prospects, he was put in an untenable situation by Major League Baseball once the international signing periods were delayed unnecessarily. Paddy was asked what Colás has been doing to stay ready during this long period of time and anyone who follows the young Cuban on Instagram has seen the physical transformation during that period of time.
“He’s done just about everything that most July free agents do,” Paddy said. “A lot of these guys get deals early but they continue to play within leagues in the complexes and things of that nature. From a baseball standpoint, he hasn’t been sitting at home. He’s been seeing pitchers, involved in games, controlled scrimmages, things of that nature. Obviously, the real deal begins once he comes to the states but it’s just a matter of him getting a few months under his belt to get used to the level of playing here and go from there. He’s a very good competitor, very aggressive. Oscar is ready mentally, his baseball activities will start slowly. It’s hard to pinpoint when he’ll be ready for the big leagues. The most important thing is he’ll do whatever it takes.”
TEENAGE DREAMS
The other big ticket expenditure for the White Sox upon the opening of the international signing period is 17-year-old Dominican outfielder Erick Hernández. The 6-0 175 pounder ranks as the #28 overall prospect in the market according to Jesse Sanchez at MLB Pipeline. The club felt positive enough about the young outfielder to give him $1 million which is something that this front office has been averse to in their history.
The last teenager that the club signed for that amount of money was outfielder Josue Guerrero back in 2016 and he never advanced further than rookie ball in the system. This has been a blind spot for the White Sox under Marco Paddy and it’s always been unclear whose decision it ultimately is to essentially avoid big dollar bonuses for Dominican teenagers.
With a contending club in the big leagues for the forseeable future and the 30th ranked farm system in the sport, cleaning up on the international market will be imperative for the White Sox throughout this next decade. In regards to the amateur draft, the club will be picking late in the first round and likely won’t be receiving extra draft picks. That keeps the bonus pool low and significantly reduces the amount of talent that can be added to the system annually unless they somehow find a way to just hit on evaluations at an unsustainable rate.
Talents like Erick Hernández being incorporated into the system must become more of the norm on the south side. Players of this caliber possessing this type of upside should become the priority on the international marketplace. Paddy insists that there are no mandates and that the baseball departments are in lockstep in Chicago.
“We have our eyes set on the better players we can get, depending on the market coming from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela. Erick is a prime example of that,” said Paddy. “We work together. Our guys are focused on trying to get the better players in the market. You can’t get them all. We focus on impact players though and we have an opportunity and all the criteria is and then we go forward and we have the support from the front office and ownership.”
Hernández used to watch White Sox’s prospects play and practice at the club’s old facility in Moca in the Dominican Republic and Paddy and his scouts were familiar with the young left-handed hitter who thrived in youth baseball.
Erick is a young guy that we’ve followed for quite some time also as a Dominican kid who lives in the Moca area. Great kid, hard worker, high energy type of player who hits left-handed. He’s a very advanced bat for a 16-year-old kid. We spent quite a bit of time on trips with him. He knew us before we knew him. We saw him at the Combine, the Dominican. He’s displayed the ability to hit that most kids don’t at that age and he can play center field at this age which is very impressive. The power that he has and the power that he projects to have gave us the confirmation that he could be a special player.
Marco Paddy on Erick Hernández
With a 60-grade hit tool from the optimistic scouts, Hernández has received comparisons to Juan Soto at a similar age. It’s a lofty proposition to become one of the very best players in the sport but the advanced approach the teenager possesses with all field hit and power potential is promising regardless. The outfielder has room for growth and the ability to add strength to his frame while also possessing stellar makeup and attitude. He likely plays center field in the Dominican in his first season but moving to a corner outfield spot in the future seems like a strong possibility.
Regardless of the results on the international market in recent years, Erick Hernández is the highest upside teenager the club has signed since inking Fernando Tatis Jr. for $750K back in 2015. The White Sox have publicly recognized the need to add an infusion of youth to their system domestically and Paddy indicated a similar sentiment on the international side recently.
When asked if it was important to add younger prospects to the pipeline, the assistant to the general manager said, “Absolutely. When you get a 16-year-old young player, you know that he has time to go through the system. You have to build for the future. Rick [Hahn] has always said that we have to build for the future and he’s a guy who has ability and he shows that now at 16 [now 17]. We hope everything goes well and by the time he’s 21, he’s maybe a guy we’re talking about all over again because he’s got that kind of baseball ability.”
What’s Next?
The White Sox official bonus pool for the 2021 international signing period is $5,179,700 according to Ben Badler at Baseball America. The two signings that have been officially announced account for $3.7 million of that available pool. The club has just under $1.5 million ($1,479,700 to be exact) left unaccounted for currently that can be spent on the marketplace. In the club’s official press release, they state that “The White Sox expect additional international signings in the coming weeks”. With only three potential agreements in the hopper to date, it’s an unusual strategy for the White Sox to employ.
Baseball America’s Ben Badler has reported that the club also is in agreement with Dominican right hander Angel Cruz but the club hasn’t announced. There isn’t much available intel on the young righty but the scouts have done well with Dominican pitching in recent years. The organization added righty Cristian Mena who has since ascended into organizational top 30 lists and should be making a full season debut this year. International scouts also identified and signed Venezuelan right hander Adrian Gil during the last period and he showed some potential in the Dominican Summer League this past year. The club has found players for smaller bonuses in recent years and rising prospect Jose Rodriguez is an example of a player receiving a smaller bonus and moving through the system in spite of it.
The club will spend the rest of their money, it’s just unknown at this stage whether they’re planning to take an approach of focusing on quality or quantity. The White Sox have taken both approaches in the past and don’t really have a playbook other than signing older Cuban defectors on the market.
Juan Uribe was a fan favorite and White Sox’s legend whose style of play and fun disposition engendered himself to fans and media throughout a very solid career. It’s now time for one of his many offspring to potentially sign with a big league club and Hèctor Gòmez, a baseball reporter from the Dominican Republic has linked the White Sox to the younger Uribe.
FutureSox confirmed a report that White Sox’s scouts would be putting Uribe Jr. through a workout of some kind in the Dominican Republic back in January. There has been no update on this potential signing and we’re unclear if Uribe Jr. is even eligible to sign with a big league club in this current international period. It would be a fun story if everything came together however.
The biggest fish on the market currently comes in the form of pitching though. Cuban righty Luis Danys Morales defected from the Cuban National Team in Mexico back in September of 2021. The 19-year-old pitcher runs his fastball up to 97 mph and he’s looking to sign with a big league club. With money tight currently on the international market, the hurler may have to wait for the next signing period amidst the uncertainty over rules and pool space.
Francys Romero from beisbolfr.com has been all over this story as he usually is in regards to Cuban defectors. Morales held a showcase for major league clubs on January 27th and Marco Paddy represented the White Sox. 26 other clubs made the trek as well with only the New York Yankees, Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds abstaining from the process.
If you scroll in close enough, Marco Paddy can be seen right near the fence line taking in the Morales’ workout. It doesn’t mean anything other than the White Sox doing their due diligence in the market but the club has had success signing Cuban players in the past and they should be seen as an option again if history is an indicator. The rest of the money will be spent and announcements should come soon enough.
Adding Cuban talent to the prospect pipeline brings needed organizational depth and is an easy way to add close to big league talent at a modicum of cost. The real value comes with players like Erick Hernández though and hopefully this signing period is a glimpse into the future for Marco Paddy and his organization.
Photo credit: Michael Guariglia/FutureSox
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