The Orioles are the “favorites” to sign infielder Cesar Prieto when the international signing period opens on January 15th, per MLB.com’s Francys Romero (via Twitter). Romero reports the signing amount to be somewhere between $650K and $750K.
Baltimore has been aggressive under GM Mike Elias in pursuing international free agents. It’s one of the few avenues available to teams to add talent without giving up talent in return. Prieto raked as a 21-year-old in the Cuban National Series, slashing .403/.463/.579 over 360 plate appearances, showing off an intriguing combination of bat-to-ball skills, speed, and gap power.
Fangraphs lists Prieto as a second baseman with a 40+ future value ranking. They write, “Prieto is the best pure hitter in Cuba. He broke Kendrys Morales’ rookie hits record then broke the Serie Nacional’s hit streak record (40 games) in 2020 while striking out just six times in 250 plate appearances. His swing and game resemble Eric Sogard’s.”
At 22-years-old, Prieto is older than many international prospects, which could just make him a fast riser in Baltimore’s system. The Orioles need as much talent in their system as they can muster. Prieto represents a low-cost, low-risk opportunity to add a hitter with a proven track record of success in Cuba.
This is welcome news. Sounds like a IF version of Nori Aoki which right now would be a considerable boost to the O’s infield picture right now.
But the comp to Sogard means they don’t project him as an every day player.
40+ FV by definition is not an everyday player. That’s a decent role player so Eric Sogard is pretty accurate.
If Prieto really is `best pure hitter in Cuba, e is probable 50FV, not 40. The writeup and valuation do not match.
Translation: Eric Sogard should play in Cuba.
Well it definitely sounds like his ceiling is capped as a 2nd or 3rd division regular with a clear lack of power, but if he has an Aoki like hit tool (.280-.290 avg) he can be about a league avg hitter. Role players and avg starters are important too as not everyone can be Soto, Acura, or Tatis. Good lottery ticket that probably has a higher floor than most, though likely a lower ceiling as well.
Couldn’t “40+” mean that 40 is the dead worst case scenario? I read the article to mean he’s likely to end up grading much higher than that but 40 was just the absolute minimum.
40+ means that he is confident putting a 40 grade on him, but could also put a 45 grade if some things develop right. A lot of times a scout will put a + on the grade if they like a guy. Like lets say you have two guys that grade out similarly, but one guy has a certain swagger or intelligence about his play. You can throw a + on him to indicate he may play better than his tools.
His contact tool is elite and he has put on a bit of size in the short time he has been state side. This is a situation where the player is falling into their lap. This is a no-brainer for. Baltimore.
My take is they are suggesting Prieto would be the strong part of a platoon, not starting vs. lefties. Apparently, there is less playing matchups in Cuba.
Getting all of our Orioles content for the winter done in one day, I see.
It’s not a bad business plan when you think about it. During the active offseason there won’t be much to write about them so O’s fans won’t read much. They will read now though because it’s probably all they will get. Fans of more active teams won’t really care about the small stuff as much as O’s fans might. They should start writing about the Pirates next.
Comp: Hanser Alberto
Alberto does not take walks (even in minors), which is something Prieto appears capable of..
Very true, but I. Alberto’s O’s stints he was a proven .300 hitter… not sure we can say the same about Prieto. Their OPS may be very similar.
If you use OPS as the sole metric for comps, Prieto might have hundreds of comps. Alberto, at .681 OPS (yikes), seems like a poor comp for the reason i cited
Middle infielder, low strikeout, small pop, and similar OPS is good enough for me. In fairness I am a little more skeptical on future batting lines, Alberto has proven what he can do at this level.
Prieto`s OPS is far higher than was Alberto`s at the same age — by over 300 points, on average!
If Prieto makes it, he will not be similar to Alberto.
I like it! Makes sense to grab some under the radar guys without giving anything up and see if they can translate success to MLB.
If he so good, why such a low $ amount, and why Baltimore ?
Because he’s not really that good.
40+ FV is expected to be a below average starter or utility/bench player.
There not many teams out there who have only 45 FV and better prospects in their top 15. Lots of MLB regulars and several All-Stars had worse grades as prospects. The Orioles practically bought themselves a third-round pick.
Since Prieto seems to be closer to the big leagues than most other prospects, choosing Baltimore might be clever, since their 40-man roster might be easier to make. But the signing bonus certainly was a factor in his decision.
Gruß,
BSHH
Because he left Cuba in June wasn’t declared a Free Agent until October and most teams have already committed their pool money. Covid pushing the July 2020 signing period to January 2021 also means there are more players available than in a typical signing period. This is a steal of a deal for Baltimore and honestly I wouldn’t have been surprised if Prieto had decided to wait a year.
Cubadugout.com comps him with Altuve and Pedroia.
That should get O’s fans excited. They both (Before the cheating scandal for Altuve) have been mentioned as possible HoF’ers
That is ridiculous
Lol. Too bad for him
I remember the last Cuban future superstar the Angels signed several years ago, Baldoquin. Haven’t heard a word about him since.
That guy was never a superstar when the angels signed him. He was projected to get around 1 mm and for some reason angels gave him like 8
I know, that one made no sense at all. Either DiPoto didn’t understand how international signings work, or there was some kind of money laundering scheme going on.
Nah, I remember he was touted as the next superstar when we signed him. That’s how they justified the ridiculous money they spent on him in 2015. We released him last year never having played higher than AA. Another Dipoto mistake.
Can you add a link to your “next superstar ” comment, because I’m unable to find any to back your statement. Perhaps you should add some in the future. Thanks
I recall most being quite confused by signing Baldoquin for that much money plus all the penalties for going over their allotment. He was a relative unknown and had very poor stats in Cuba.
“Baldoquin didn’t hit well in Cuba and wasn’t even playing regularly, Badler notes. Baldoquin did, however, make a good impression on some teams. He could stick at shortstop or move to second base, and he has ironed out some issues with his swing and might end up having doubles power.”
From MLB-R at the time of the signing. So Badler, who knows his stuff, says he didn’t hit well in Cuba, wasn’t playing regularly, and might move to 2nd.
Trying to draw conclusions from Cuba data doesn’t make sense, but with a .662 OPS, and 7 errors at SS in 177 IPs, he hardly seems to be the ‘can’t-miss’ prospect category.
Thanks Joe !!
I’ll believe it when I see it.
missed opportunity for the white sox. guys stat line shows a nick madrigal comp
It’s not too often anymore when you see “Orioles” and “favorites” in the same headline.
“The (insert year here) Baltimore Orioles are looking at Phase (insert fan-friendly Roman numeral here) of their current rebuild, making them yet again favorites for the cellar.”
Great comment: the Orioles won 83 games in 2022 and followed it up with an AL leading 101 wins, taking the AL East pennant. You are prescient like Edgar Cayce.
40+ FV usually just means wide range of possibilities in regards to young players. Eric Longenhagen wrote, “Lots of the 40 FV prospects on our lists are risky young players who might be really good one day but might also be nothing” in a 2018 scouting article.
So, might be good or might not. Got it. That certainly narrows it down.
Yep, haha. I was going to initially make a joke about that, but so many were misinterpreting the definition that it wouldn’t have made sense in context.
I guessed what 40+FV means but appreciate you all hashing it out. Clears things up.
It’s probably just the Brewer fan in me talking, but an Eric Sogard comp? Ouch…
This makes no sense. If this guy is such a low cost/low risk/high potential upside player then why in the world would Baltimore be considered the “favorites” to sign him? Does he really want to play for a perennial basement dweller? Are the other clubs just going to gift the Orioles this player? The logic escapes me…(as my wife often points out to me!)
He left Cuba in June, wasn’t declared a free agent until October. Very few teams have money,It is also a busy class with Covid pushing dates around and effectively consolidating if not 2 signing classes at least 1.5 classes into 1. Clearly he wanted to get into an organization as soon as possible and there is a clearer path to the Show with Baltimore than a lot of orgs.
I have been following him since his rookie year in 2018 and put together this piece youtube.com/watch?v=09ThbpEiT8s&t=183s
The quicker he gets to the majors the quicker he gets to free agency. Why not play for a bottom dweller like the Baltimore?
Play, produce, get paid.
Why not play for an up-and-comer like Baltimore?
You must be new to baseball. Baltimore is not a `perennial basement dweller.` Although I could see how the logic would escape you.
Good sense escapes you, too.
The logic to this is that he’s young and the Orioles will be on the rise after this up coming season. There are a lot of non believers out here that refuse to acknowledge the talent within the minor leagues for the Orioles. It’s coming!
Gotta be desperate to join the MLB to want to sign with the Orioles.
Or smart. Depends on whether the point of the comment is to dump on the Orioles
Desperate or smart?
The guy is coming from a poverty nation like Cuba. It’s not easy to come over here. You are giving up a lot and leaving your whole life behind to chase a dream.
He is smart to sign with a team who will allow him to play. He is older so the path to the majors will be quicker. It’s not about the signing bonus but it’s how quickly can that service clock start ticking so he can hit free agency. That is where the money is.
A 40 FV? Below average?
Be still my heart.
That’s an insane strikeout to at-bat ratio he has for Elefantes de Cienfuegos.
Finally pro active moves
At 40+ FV he should be in the O’s starting lineup on opening day. Maybe sign him to a Franco type contract immediately.
I’m starting to get sick of everyone dumping on the Orioles constantly. Yes, they will suck again in 2022, but by 2023 they will be an above .500 team in the AL East with only pre-arb players on the roster and money to spend.
Young infield of Rutschman, Mountcastle, Henderson, Westburg & potentially Prieto.
Young outfield of Mullins,Cowser, Kjerstad, Hays & Stowers.
Rotation of Means, Rodriguez & Hall with a couple of free agents.
What’s not to like? Every single young player in their lineup will hit between 25 – 40 HRs with OBP .350 – .400.
Hey dude, I agree the constant ranking on teams just gets tiresome to read. People can’t just discuss baseball they have to grind their axes. Just boring. That said, my advice is to just skip those posters as they offer little value or block them altogether.
That all said, your rotation does not project to be very good right yet. Means could be traded and DL Hall, while having an electric arm, is trending as a reliever to me due to his poor command. Rodriquez does look the part however. There is a bunch of position talent on the way in Baltimore all at various levels, but that rotation long term still worries me.as I see nothing on the Orioles farm (other than G-Rod) that one can truly project with confidence. Kremer showed some promise a couple years ago and he’s still there, but my view is the Os need to add upper tier arms to their farm, which could be done by a Means deal or a prospect for prospect deal.
There have also been rumors of Mullins to Miami with a couple prized arms in the Marlins system going back to Baltimore. That would hurt, but may be something Orioles brass should consider.
I agree. There is nothing wrong with rebuilding small market teams.
Past that, I don’t see them being even .500 for about three years. There is no reason to keep anyone Maybe guys like Mullins and Mountcastle and means give them a shot at .400, but I can’t imagine that s something that will appeal to many fans.
Especially Mullins. Too much risk of reversion.
It’s a brutal division to be a part of. Yanks and Red Sox has bottomless pockets. Toronto has done a decent job rebuilding and will be on the rise.
He aged a year in a couple paragraphs!
‘His swing resembles Eric Sogard’ sooo a career .246/313/338??? Good pickup