New Pitchers from South America?

[CUBZ99]

Last week during Jim Hendry's radio interview he was asked about whether he was concerned about the depth of pitching in the Cubs minor league system. It seemed like he mentioned that this year there are some exciting players from outside of the US that will be making their debuts in the Cubs system thanks to the scouting of Oneri Flieta (sp?) and then talked about how the Cubs had been sucessful in the past with those types of signings (Zambrano, Guzman, Cruz, etc. )

 

Does anyone have an idea of who these new pitchers will be? and are there scouting reports available on South American amateur pitchers?

[Bear Cub]

I have noticed that the Cubs had about 5/6 pitchers listed on the Mesa roster last summer that never appeared in a game. I wonder if they could be the ones.

Alberto Albequerque

Carlos Morla

Juan Sayago

Felin Santana

Alvaro Dicio

Wilson Inoa (Of)

[don_kessinger_was_good]

Felin Santana = Johan Santana's younger brother? Cousin?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Felin did pitch for Mesa last year.

[Outshined_One]

I have memories of Felin pitching and Inoa seeing some playing time.

 

Also, Alberto Albuquerque was converted from being a position player to a pitcher, as memory serves me.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I have memories of Felin pitching and Inoa seeing some playing time.

 

Also, Alberto Albuquerque was converted from being a position player to a pitcher, as memory serves me.

 

Checking out MiLB.com, Felin had 24 IP but Inoa did not log any ABs. Albuquerque was converted from catcher, I think.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Felin Santana = Johan Santana's younger brother? Cousin?

 

Johan's much, much more talented younger brother.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Felin will be 22 before next season and has never pitched above Mesa. Not too encouraging, of course there's still tons of time.

[craig]

I have memories of Felin pitching and Inoa seeing some playing time.

 

Also, Alberto Albuquerque was converted from being a position player to a pitcher, as memory serves me.

 

Heh, memories not so clear!

*Felin wasn't young, wasn't good, and I believe is gone. He did not participate in Fall Instructional camp, for example.

*Albuquerque is not a position convert. He's a short RHP control pitcher who did well in DSL in 2004, but got injured and missed all of last season. He was in Fall Instrux. He's 19.

*Wilson Inoa is a speed CF who missed all of last season due to injury. He may be interesting, but as a player not a pitcher he is clearly not on Hendry's mind when he made the Latin pitcher comments. He'll turn 19 this spring. Fleita liked him last winter, although Fleita notices one-tool guys; whether Inoa can do anything other than run, who knows. And both times that Fleita discussed Inoa, he got his first and last names mixed up.

 

*Carlos Morla missed last year at Mesa to arm trouble. He was not at Fall Instrux.

*I believe Dicio, Santana and Sayago have been released.

 

Note: Deducing anything from roster names can be pretty difficult. Published rosters for Mesa are routinely obsolete. Often Latin names remain there long after they are released or demoted to DSL. Also, I believe that even the DSL team has some kind of roster cap. Given how many Latin players they try to sift through, it's hard to make much sense. Sometimes it seems a Latin player is on the Mesa roster because maybe he's better than his DSL peers. Sometimes it's because the Cubs think he might be a serious prospect. But sometimes it may be because a guy signed recently and the DSL roster is packed, so they need to list him somewhere.

 

Note: The DSL team has finished in last place the last couple of summers. A friend got a list of the Fall Instrux players. No position players from the DSL team were invited. But there were seven Latin pitchers involved who have never pitched in an American minor-league game. And a couple who never even pitched in DSL. With luck, maybe one or two of those guys will turn out to be genuine prospects.

[Scotti]

*Albuquerque is not a position convert. He's a short RHP control pitcher who did well in DSL in 2004, but got injured and missed all of last season. He was in Fall Instrux. He's 19.

 

Craig, the only word I ever got on Albuquerque was "RHP Alberto Albuquerque is a guy who should skip through the system quickly; I expect he'll start above Mesa in the system" from Oneri Fleita on here about a year ago.

 

When you say he’s a control pitcher is that based on his fastball, numbers or a different “scouting” type opinion? Does that imply not so much FB or just few BB?

 

Thanks,

Scotti

[Scotti]

I have memories of Felin pitching and Inoa seeing some playing time.

 

Also, Alberto Albuquerque was converted from being a position player to a pitcher, as memory serves me.

 

Checking out MiLB.com, Felin had 24 IP but Inoa did not log any ABs. Albuquerque was converted from catcher, I think.

 

Ya'll seem to be remembering Tim's confusion last year:

 

A few things I remember being surprised by:

 

1) Alberto Albequerque will only be 18 this year. The fact that Oneri seems certain he'll start above Mesa and move quickly seems to be a very good sign. Add another positive catching prospect to the ranks.

 

....

[craig]

*Albuquerque is not a position convert. He's a short RHP control pitcher who did well in DSL in 2004, but got injured and missed all of last season. He was in Fall Instrux. He's 19.

 

Craig, the only word I ever got on Albuquerque was "RHP Alberto Albuquerque is a guy who should skip through the system quickly; I expect he'll start above Mesa in the system" from Oneri Fleita on here about a year ago.

 

When you say he’s a control pitcher is that based on his fastball, numbers or a different “scouting” type opinion? Does that imply not so much FB or just few BB?

 

Thanks,

Scotti

 

Mostly based on numbers, not on any scouting dope that I've heard but you haven't.

 

Numbers combined with speculation based on peripherals. His numbers in the DSL in 2004, when he turned 18 during the year, had an excellent K/BB ratio. A 43/9 K/BB ratio in 46 innings is good, and his hits allowed were also good (33 hits in 46 innings). So the numbers suggest that his control was good relative to his level. For DSL level kids, of course you don't know if they throw anything except a fastball. But often fastball pitchers give up hits. So I wondered whether the low hits allowed might corrrelate to having something that he may be able to throw besides the fastball? And do it with reasonable control or else the walks would have been higher?

 

That he had good control, and perhaps the makings of some kind of breaking ball, also seemed consistent with Fleita's comment that he could advance quickly, and might even skip beyond Mesa. My experience with Fleita suggests he wouldn't probably say that if he thought the guy was a wildman, or didn't have a reasonably balanced, consistent delivery, or at least the makings of some kind of breaking ball. If a guy is just a fastball and they hope to eventually teach him a breaking pitch, they figure the guy will take time, not advance quickly or skip levels. So his numbers combined with Fleita's comment seemed consistent with a guy with control.

 

My comment that he's a control pitcher does not necessarily imply that he doesn't have a fastball. Prior was drafted as a control pitcher, but he had a fastball. Guzman has been consistently supported as a control pitcher, but that doesn't mean he lacks a fastball.

 

If Alburquerque post-injury is able to have good control, and have a good fastball, that might make him a meaningful prospect.

 

However, the fact that he lists at 6'0", 150 is not particularly encouraging if we're looking for a velocity guy. The physics and levers aren't conducive. Obviously there are some special short guys who throw plenty hard, Billy Wagner, Tom Gordon, Roy Oswalt, maybe Alburquerque will show up as a freak like that, we could use the luck. But the probability of him ever throwing 97mph would seem a lot better if he listed at 6'4" 205 rather than 6'0".

[Bear Cub]

Good info guys. Hope we find a few diamonds in the rough among this group.