Cardinals Sign Amauris Capellan
Posted on February 24th, 2010 by azruavatar in Amauris Capellan, July 2 intn'l signing periodThis is one of those Latin America signings that are darn near impossible for us to evaluate from the outside. BA has the report on the 17-year-old right fielder who has a “plus-plus arm”.
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Corner outfielder, can’t hit for power, plus-plus arm…Hmmm… Can he pitch?
Sounds like the 2nd coming of Ryde Rodriguez.
I think the important aspect about this signing is that they are back in the game of competing for prospects in the Dominican. There was some thought that they might be blackballed after they rescinded the Wagner Mateo contract. Allegedly Capellan’s contract was for $400000 plus which I presume means other teams were in the bidding.
The Cardinal Nation/Scout.com write up on Capellan is much more encouraging.
@Indiana Cardinal: What does it say?
Lou- even better subsequently that site reported that the Cards have signed 10 more new players from the Dominican (7) and Venezuela (3). They include 4 OF, 2 catchers, 3 SS’s and 1 2b. Wonder why no pitchers? Maybe annouced later. They are 16 to 20 years old. Short write ups on some of them. Obvious they could all be slugs, but at least they are back in the Carribean signing business which is a good thing after whatever hard feeling there were after Mateo.
As to Capellan, Moises Rodriguez, the Cards International Operations Director, who is obviously not disinterested, says they are “very excited”. Other comments, “he is one of the players they signed with the most upside and can provide impact in a short period of time”. He compared him to OF Raul Mondesi. He has good carry on his arm. He has lots of lower half strength with room to grow. He is athletic despite his stocky built. He is aggressive and average runner. He will start as a CF but like Mondesi will become a corner OF. He compares very favorably to the other Dominicans signed this year (including Sano), i.e. top 5. He was pursued by Astros, KC and the Twins. He is from Puerto Plata in the Dominican which Rodriguez said is a growing hotbed in the Dominican. He concluded by categorizing him as a big time bat at a very reasonable price.
Again I take all of that with a certain grain of salt but I am happy that they are again signing players from those countries after the Mateo matter.
@Indiana Cardinal: Thanks for the detailed report. Sounds like he’ll be an interesting guy to follow.
The Mondesi comp would be nice if that pans out. At his peak he had 2 seasons with 40 or more doubles and 300+ total bases.
Thanks for the info Indiana. I like the idea of spreading the money around with a larger number of Caribbean players who show promise. These kids are lottery tickets, nice to know we just picked up 10 without blowing a wad of cash.
Please, tell the Cardinal Organization, to look at the Cuban prospects being signed by other major league teams, the Cardinal Nation is losing 5 stars prospects examples Hechevarria, Iglesias, Arguelles, and about 25 others top players
AND the Cardinal Nation just announced that in addition to Capellan and the 10 position players they have ALSO signe 10 new pitchers from Venzuela and the Dominican. It looks like their cash still spends in those countries. Hopefully out of 21 players they will get a few to be helpful in the future.
The story at the Cardinal Nation/Scout.com site concluded by saying that they have 5 more players under contract waiting to get age and background checks. More interesting the story says that they are in the running for another big prospect pitcher who is eligible to sign in a few months and are already engaging his agents.
All ten pitchers signed are righthanded, 6 from the Dominican and 4 from Venezuela.
Good info Indiana. Also the site looks great on my phone now.
Yeah, I just made some updates, should be good to go on iPhones, Droids, the like
Any new information on our international signings?
Anyone know when the GCL, VSL and DSL start? Interested in some of our recent signings who aren’t at extended spring training right now.