Hoo-ray! It’s our first bit of international signing news.
Per Ben Badler of Baseball America:
The Cardinals signed Dominican righthander Santo Franco. International scouts indicated that Franco’s camp was seeking a $1 million bonus, but doubted that he would receive that much money. Franco, who is a lanky 6-foot-5 at around 185 pounds, has a fastball that has been up to 92 mph, with the potential for considerably more velocity as his frame fills out.
In a preview to the signing period, BA took a closer look at Franco. The gist is:
- 16 years old, up from 88-89 to now throwing 90-91 and touching 92.
- Lanky frame, oozes projection. Could morph into a flamethrower.
- Lags behind in secondary stuff. Average curve, but not consistent. Scouts think he’d be better suited to throw the slider due to his body type.
- “Prototypical projection guy with a big arm.”
ESPN ranked him the 8th best Latin American prospect available, for what it’s worth. Sounds like a nice signing.
Filed under: July 2 intn'l signing period, Santo Franco | Tagged: Santo Franco
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
How old is this guy? I mean real age, not passport age. Or is that one of those questions you’re better off not asking?
Born 11/28/91
Extremely projectable it seems.
I obviously don’t know this kid from Adam but if the kid is 16, 6′5″, and already throwing 92, think of how hard he could be throwing in a few years?
I know it’s all projection at this point but dang, that’s a good start.
This kid is a year younger than me and just passed me in career earnings for awhile. Hope he comes in and tears it up.
In the BA preview the scout was taking him to task for not having much of a breaking ball. He’s 16, isn’t it OK if his breaking ball isn’t developed yet. I would think a breaking pitch could be developed over time. You can’t teach raw velocity.
Alec, the kid is 10 years younger than me, and has passed me in career earnings for probably the next 10 years (if he got anywhere near that 1 million bonus), so don’t feel too bad.
Cards sign six Latin American players
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2008/07/cards-boost-bonuses-in-latin-america/
I wonder what the Cards are doing in Mexico this year? After signing Salas and Rivera — two pretty exciting prospects — I haven’t heard of any other Mexican players being signed.
I know baseball is below soccer in popularity in Mexico, but in a country that size, it stands to reason that the second-most-popular sport would generate some darned good players.
FWIW, when I worked as a waiter in a hotel in L.A., I used to talk baseball all the time with some of the waiters who were born in Mexico. They were as crazy about it as me.
Erik..anyway you can get one of the agents from saberscouting (liquid) on here to give us his personal view on the players the Cards took?
I am not sure how legit he is…but its hard to deny his information that all seemed dead on.
Real high on Pina…..I love tools, but if you can hit…you can hit!
I suppose I could try, not sure how to go about that. He was dead on, wasn’t he? I’m excited about both Pina and Franco, both seem like highly sought after kids. Great to see the Cards get in there and be competitive.
They got 2 SS’s and a LHP….so you know I am happy.
Pina sounds like he could be a fast moving hitting machine…I wonder why he has 2 names and there have been some rumblings he is older then he really is.
Anyhow…its just nice to see the Cards involved this year and actually involved with people we have heard of.
Just b/c we heard of them doesnt make them better…but it sure is easier to get on board as fans.
Speaking of age rumblings:
When I was in K.C. last weekend for a family reunion/Cardinals game, I got into a conversation in the lobby with the manager on duty.
We started talking about baseball, and he told me he was a former teacher in a local school district who used to umpire high school and juco games. He said he umped dozens of games that Pujols played in, both in high school and at Maple Woods Community College.
Take this for what it’s worth — it’s just a conversation I had with a guy — but he said that when Pujols played, there were always scouts around, sometimes a dozen or more. Everyone knew about Pujols, and every scout this guy talked to believed that Pujols was much older than he said he was.
One or two scouts told the umpire that their organization had scouted Pujols in the Dominican, when he was allegedly 16, and now they were scouting him 4 years later, when he was allegedly 18.
I know real reporters have looked into this, and no one’s come up with a smoking gun proving Pujols is older than he says he is. It’s possible that Pujols’ family fudged his age in two directions — they said he was older than he was in the Dominican to try to get him a pro contract, and then they said he was younger than he was to pass him off as an 18-year-old in the U.S.
But what the umpire said seemed plausible to me: The concensus among the scouts in 1999 was that Pujols was considerably older than he said he was. That still doesn’t explain why no one popped a future Hall of Fame hitter before the 13th round, but it certainly explains why they backed off him in the early rounds — no one wanted to risk losing his job by drafting a 23-year-old posing as a teenager.
The irony, of course, is that even if Pujols really was 23, he was still the best hitter available in 1999, and they all passed on him.
So if one of the 16-year-olds we signed July 2 turns out to be 17 or 18, it may not matter. If he can hit, he can hit.
any info about the best international ss george drullard 5 tools,6′2 ht . 180 wt trhowing 94 from ss