Cuban two-way prospect Oscar Colas has defected in hopes of landing a major league contract, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets. Francys Romero of Las Mayores first reported on Colas’ defection.
The 21-year-old Colas is an outfielder/pitcher who most recently played with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan, where he slashed .300/.353/.511 with 12 home runs in 295 plate appearances in 2019. As a left-handed pitcher, Colas is capable of hitting 95 mph, according to Passan.
It remains to be seen whether Colas will emerge as a two-way threat in the majors a la Shohei Ohtani, but nevertheless, it’s likely he’ll get “significant interest” from major league teams, per Passan. Colas could wait until at least July to sign with a big league club, however, as there appears to be less money available to him now that the current international signing period – which began July 2 – is almost a half-year old.
Padres!
Jays!!!
Interesting sounding player. Seems like any team would be happy to get their hands on him for the right price. I’ve never heard of him until now but this league definitely needs more Ohtani style 2-way players. I hope it all works out for him and he becomes a very productive MLB player. It would be great for him and the league.
You’d think the onus would be on teams to develop more two way players now…..
The reason mlb created a cap on international talent is exactly for this reason. After the white Sox dropped some 50+ million on Luis Robert MLB intervened to protect the owners financial interest so deals like that never happen again. They do it at the expense of small market teams too. Reds where overpaying players so they’d sign in cincy but no longer have that luxury w cap. MLB is a business first designed to make billionaires richer
The Phillies have all their money to spend.
Look it up.
You can take that ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. to the bank.
Redacted!
they’ve been fraudulent though
Or flatulent?
i looked it up. As usual, you are wrong.
The Phillies signed 17 players with the $4,821,400 they had to spend in the 2019 J2 signing period. nbcsports.com/philadelphia/phillies/phillies-sign-… .
Unless they traded to get a significant amount back, they don’t have all their money to spend.
#micdrop on the #troll
Quality through quantity-Branch Ricky!
Coca Colas can fit into any team’s budget.
Or pigs tails…..
The cardinals could use him
I dont think theyve spent much, I’d love to see them make a splashy move.
Yankees!!!
Ninja Cash…Make it happen!!!
Is there a list of Cuban defectors who haven’t signed with an MLB organization yet? That would be really good to have access to.
Fidel hasn’t signed, but rumor has it he’s dead.
I’ll get confirmation from his kid in Canada.
Good news, the Reds have a 21 year old RF in the minors named Fidel Castro. I’d link his baseball-ref page but I doubt you can link here..
So he DID sign!
Guess who he was named after?
Baseball America?
I hear he has a lot of potential, and hope that he doesn’t fizzle out.
Ha Ha!
I think those stats are for the Japanese Western league, which is a minor league there. He’ll probably have to sign a minor league contract here.
Aloha ksmom, yes Colas spent the past 3 yrs in southern Japan, mostly in the Hawks highest level of minor league ball. He did come up and see some action with the main team/NPB this past season. I wish the Cubs could consider him. We’ll see. Shinnen Omedetou Gozaimasu, Happy New Year and Mahalo!
Come on Yankees! Sign Wood to a one year bounce back contract! Perfect solution for German being suspended and eating innings in the #5 spot! Low pressure and less strain on the player physically!
Wrong post lol!
Uh, yeah.
I think you made
a wrong turn at
another post…..
My periodic request for a list of MLB teams with roughly how much IFA space they have remaining.
Baseball America?
perfect fit for the angels!
I thought defectors were only allowed now if you were a celebrity or an attractive woman from Eastern Europe.
that have skills on the poles or on beds.
Not according to the current occupant of
the Case Blanca…..
Mail order brides!
Like FLOTUS!
Cuban pitcher/outfielder attempting the leap from the NPB?
I can’t think of any player who can check so many boxes in as 2020 a way as that.
He wasnt actually in the NPB. He was in the Western League. The equivalent of AAA in the US.
This smells like a perfect deal for Chaim Bloom in Boston. I believe they have a decent amount of Int’l cap money right now…let’s get it done!
Unfortunately for him, most teams prefer Pepsi to Colas
but if they ever have tasted ciego montero’s tucola, wouldn touch pepsi.
Peruvian coffee flakes
are better and no sugar.
Or that chemical based
fake sugar…..
Who?
I’d like to see Seattle take a flyer on this guy. Young, talented, maybe not far from the majors, maybe a two-way player. While the M’s do already have a decent-looking group of young outfielders, none of them are a sure bet. Neither is Colas, but adding him to the mix would seem to increase the group’s depth and add more competition. I think Seattle and other rebuilding teams should be all in when it comes to signing Colas.
Or Sarsaparillas…..
Rays Cards pretty much anyone with IBM left should be in on this guy. Rays need a new Rf if he fits that awesome.
Orioles are the favorites for him
O’s don’t do international
Uh yeah they do
They didn’t for many years, but they have the past 2 offseasons. They also have the most money left to spend right now. Not that a guy that is in the Japanese minor leagues is going to get big dollars.
One reason they suck…..
Might want to edit those numbers, Connor — colas only played 7 games for Softbank’s NPB team this year. He spent the rest of the year in the Western League, which is the NPB equivalent of the minors. Those numbers are nice, but they aren’t against top league competition.
Marlins should be at the forefront to sign this youngster.
Oscar “Tails” Colas
Not sure what the White Sox international cap space looks like in July, but they have a very strong Cuban connection and those boys can be good recruiters.
Orioles go get him!
Oscar Colás has Classy Giant written all over him. Don’t think he would want to be a slippery snek or a paddlin padre.
Didn’t Bloomberg ban
giant colas?
Get it done Theo. You got alot of money to spend. The Cubs need a CF and a leadoff man
Giants make a lot of sense here ,