Cuban prospect Adrian Morejon has been declared a free agent, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). The southpaw is now free to sign with any team, but will be subject to international signing limits, which will have a major role in shaping his market.
Morejon left his native Cuba last October, as Ben Badler of Baseball America reported. At the time, it had seemed that Morejon might be cleared before the previous July 2 signing period, under a changed approach to MLB’s registration rules.
A rapid move onto the open market did not occur in Morejon’s case, as Badler recently explored. Per that report, though, Morejon isn’t expected to suffer much from the delay. That’s because he is anticipated to agree to terms with the Padres, who would’ve needed him to wait to sign anyway.
Morejon is considered a quality pitching prospect, though it’s important to recognize what type of player he is. At just 17 years of age, he has more in common with the young arms from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela who typically fall under the July 2 rubric than he does with older and more advanced players who have drawn huge bonuses out of Cuba.
That being said, Badler has opined that Morejon should be considered among the top names available among his class, and suggested more recently that the lefty has shown more of late. Morejon doesn’t have a big frame, but has run his fastball up to the mid-nineties. Badler also credits him with promising secondary offerings and “advanced feel” given his age.
Morejon is 17. His birthday is 2/27/1999.
Or is it?
I feel like all Cuban players ages should be officially followed with “-ish”
Do you have a source for that? I thought he was 17, too, but B-Ref has him as 18.
EDIT: I see Sanchez says that. I’ll edit.
Okay Padres, keep the ball rolling and make the most of this year. We already blew through our pool so let’s go all in.
Braves could add him might as well
Personally, I would love for the Braves to add the lefty, but typically when a player is “supposed to sign” with a team, they pretty much already have a verbal agreement in place.
With that being said, I am sure he will indeed end up signing with the Padres. These handshake agreements are very much commonplace when it comes to international free agent prospects, much like the one the Braves had with their haul of prospects, namely top prospects Kevin Maitan, Abraham Gutierrez, and Yunior Severino…
Once again the distant future looks bright for the Padres.
Until,also once again…..it isn’t!
Ugh!