Some of you may be looking at some of the GCL box scores wondering who some of these players are. I’ll try and get more info as I go along, but here are a couple of names you should know about that you’ll be seeing in the everyday lineup.
Edgar Lara. Derrick Goold said his name was the name to know. The Cardinals signed him as a 16 year old and gave him a healthy $250 K signing bonus. Lara is now 18 and spent last summer playing for the DSL Cards, and was far from impressive, he struck out 79 times in 160 at bats. That’s not a typo. Overall he hit .175/.268/.288 with 3 homers. In his first game last night, he hit a single and a HR. Lara is a big guy at 6′3″, 210 and is said to have a great work ethic and the most raw tools of any player the Cardinals had signed out of the DR since the renewed interest over there. His power especially grades as a plus. He’s playing RF.
Jairo Martinez. Another name Goold mentioned at Baseball America as a name to keep an eye on, like Lara he got a healthy signing bonus. And like Lara, he homered in his first game, his first at bat actually. Martinez is 20 years old and stands at 6′1″, 180 and has demonstrated some good pop last year in the DSL, posting a .200 isolated power. His overall line was .246/.347/.446 with 8 homers in 195 at bats. He walked in 10.5% of his at bats while also being quite the whiffer, striking out in 31% of his ABs. 21 of his 48 hits went for extra bases.
I’ll try and fill in more of the blanks on some of these players as we go along, and I’m sure we’ll get to know more about the players now that they are in the stats. Maybe it’s time I start trying to pay closer attention to some of the box scores down in Venezuela and the DR. Available (maybe) by popular demand. We’ll see…What? 7 teams is a lot already!
Filed under: Edgar Lara, Jairo Martinez
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I am going to be lazy here and cut and paste. But what I have found on Joey Hage sounds really promising. I think he is a guy who could have tremendous upside.
23. (712) Joey Hage-OF-Douglas HS, Parkland, Fla.-An exciting outfielder with tools galore, Joey Hage began to draw a great deal of attention from scouts last summer. Out of Douglas High School in Florida, Hage has impressed anyone who has watched him with his strong arm, great defense and raw power. Click here to link to his Myspace page. Played in the HS Cape Cod League and various other wood bat tournaments. Signed to play with Florida International.
http://www.whiteyball.com
About the guys k/bb rates.
You know what they say….”you can’t walk off that island”. Well, the same can be said for any Latin country. These guys don’t get noticed because they have good strike zone judgement. They get noticed for hitting and running. They’re young and can be taught plate discipline.
i know big red. they’re raw as could be, but have high ceilings. absolutely nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing wrong in stating the facts, either. i’m not demeaning either of them, actually the contrary. i think they’re both ones to watch, for sure.
Erik.
I totally agree about “one’s to watch”. I’m kinda excited about these guys. Not because I have any un-realistic hopes, but because I can’t remember the last guys the Cards have had like these two (or maybe more). Which is why I was all excited about the venture into the VSL and the Dominican. You see the Cubs with Pie (granted he ain’t hittin’ but wow is he a remarkable athlete) or other Latin guys coming up in the league.
They talk about the high ceiling and high risk of drafting high schoolers as opposed to college guys. Well, with these guys, you’ve got a really high ceiling and virtually no risk.