The Braves officially signed 18-year-old Dominican shortstop Edward Salcedo to a deal worth $1.6MM today. He was considered one of the best prospects in Latin America back in 2008, however MLB launched an investigation to confirm his age and identity at the Braves’ behest.
Salcedo’s birthday was recently established as July 30, 1991. Originally represented by Scott Boras, Salcedo is now represented by Edgar Mercedes, who said the Braves were his client’s first option. Reports in 2008 indicated that Boras was seeking upwards of $5MM for Salcedo. Atlanta recently applied for a visa to allow him to visit their Spring Training complex.
Atlanta considered Salcedo the equivalent of a high first round pick, which is good because they forfeited their 2010 first rounder to sign Billy Wagner and didn’t receive compensation picks for Rafael Soriano. Already standing 6′-3″, Salcedo is considered to be one of the best offensive players to come out of the Dominican in quite some time, however there are some questions about his ability to remain at short.
The AP first reported that Salcedo’s age had been confirmed (thanks to Nick Collias for the translation), and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reported that the two sides were near an agreement. Dave O’Brien of The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the terms.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Well he could certainly take over when Yunel becomes a free agent in a few years.
Assuming, of course, that he leaves.
We could move him to third if Chipper retires.
he’s got the arm.
Give him a 6 years/$31M after this year
it’s what Tulowitzki got; he had 2 years of experience; Yunel will have 3 and a half around…
The throw from SS tends to be longer than the throw from 3B. Usually the toughest part of the transition is having less time to react to sharply hit balls.
Via PerfectGame USA:
“Edward Salcedo is a FA SS with a 6’3”, 190 lb. frame from La Vega, Dominican Republic. Big League body, strong and athletic. Smooth, easy defensive actions, easy plus arm, can really play SS. Aggressive swing, power projection, deep load from wide base, good bat speed, geared to drive fastballs, timing will be an issue. All the tools to be a top player. Potential 1st round type if in draft. ”
Sounds promising. I wonder what the terms will be.
Via PerfectGame USA:
“Edward Salcedo is a FA SS with a 6’3”, 190 lb. frame from La Vega, Dominican Republic. Big League body, strong and athletic. Smooth, easy defensive actions, easy plus arm, can really play SS. Aggressive swing, power projection, deep load from wide base, good bat speed, geared to drive fastballs, timing will be an issue. All the tools to be a top player. Potential 1st round type if in draft. ”
Sounds interesting.
SS’s make good 3B-men…
But they make poor Catchers…
Brad Asumus disagrees with you
as does Victor Martinez
but Victor Martinez agrees.
Assuming this guy is signed and pans out (obviously a big assumption), he or Escobar would probably be more than capable of playing 3rd. Maybe this will help stop the stupid obsession with finding a 3rd base prospect that the Braves nation seems to have.
How is findind a 3B prospect a “stupid obsession”? It’s not like Chipper is going to play forever, and the Braves have a huge lack of position prospects in the minors.
It’s always stupid to take a less talented player because he plays a certain position. I’m mainly referring to the people who think the drafts are failures because the Braves didn’t land a 3rd baseman in the 1st round or that they need to trade specifically for a 3rd base prospect.
Sounds like this guy is going to be brought up as a 3B prospect. Some quotes form an ESPN Insider article.
“Though first marketed as a shortstop, at least one scout thinks he’ll most likely have to switch positions. ‘For sure he’s going to third base now’ the scout said.”
Better than Pope, most likely.
I hope the Braves do sign this young man. From the videos I have watched of him playing, he seems to have great athleticism. I do worry about Yunel leaving in a few years. (He is represented by the same company that represents Furcal, whom JS vowed to never do business with again.)
i would think he would make an exception
The video I just watched just showed him trying to hit home runs, which would be another Andruw Jones. I wasn’t impressed.
We can only hope this guy turns into a young 3B Andruw Jones. Comon now..
I’m sorry, but I don’t wanna have another Andruw Jones on the Braves. You might want someone lazy on the Braves, but I don’t. You also might want someone on the Braves that only try to hit home runs and don’t get on base no other way, but I don’t.
I would take a lazy .303/.366/.541/.907 36HR 21SB and elite defense any day of the week. That’s the kind of stuff a young Andruw clone would bring.
Do you even know who Andruw Jones is? Or did you only start watching baseball two years ago?
The original post was about a young Andruw Jones. Or do you only start reading posts after 2 replies?
And apparently BravesRed didn’t know what a young Andruw Jones looked like. The dude was definitely not lazy and was one of the best players in baseball with his time with the Braves.
The Braves have team control over Chipper, Escobar and Prado for the next four seasons so I’m not that concerned about or infield depth on the farm. We do need to be signing and drafting these kinds of young SS/3B impact prospects in event of an early Chipper retirement or when things shake up in 2014.
bbxxj, long time no talk, why’d you leave the espn boards?
Honestly, the insane amount of uncontrolled trolling drove me away. I just switched to TalkingChop.
hahaha, understandable, we could use you though! It’s actually gotten worse, they’re posting during the offseason now too. I’ve thought about heading over to talking chop too.
Unfortunately I don’t have the power to defeat trolls. The best way to be rid of them is to go where they can’t go.
bravesjournal.com is a great site and is always closely monitored
I remember reading about this guy, the Indians had some interest about a year ago too.
I like it
I agree we need to start finding a replacement..Chipper won’t be around much longer.
Sounds pretty solid that something will happen there. Potential Chipper replacement a few years down the road?
if Chipper struggles again or has any more foot problems he may be closer to retiring than finishing out his contract. The Braves will always have pitching prospects to trade for middle infield depth if they need too, but signing a guy like this never hurts your chances. Id take a young Andruw Jones type production at any position.
If this guy can pan out the way he should then i like the signing. If Escobar keeps it up, he might be better suited for third base. He’d turning into a power guy and that tells me he belongs at third base. That arm of his would be just fine there and maybe this guy could be ready by that time because unlesshe blows everyone away this spring training I don’t see Brandon Hicks going much further than AAA stalwart or going to the Royals
Brandon Hicks will probably end up a super utility type player. He doesnt have the bat, but they rave about his glove. Scouts say his defense is MLB ready now
Hicks has an amazing glove and his power/batting eye combo is actually pretty good but his awful contact rate is really holding him back. He had a nice second half of the season last year so I’m hoping for a bit of a breakout from him.
Let’s get this done Aquino. We have some of the best pitching depth and talent of any system but beyond Heyward, Schafer and Freeman (and maybe Cody Johnson and Bethancourt) we don’t really have much in the ways of impact positional prospects. Salcedo would go a long way to improving our talent base.
exactly right and if he’s anywhere close to a first round pick like they say he is then $2mil may be money well spent
I think the 2M offered this year to Damon and the 2M defered to next year would be much better spent signing this guy this year and another similar Latin bat next year for ~2M.
couldnt agree more.. with our outfield pretty much set, why not try to improve for the future? Hopefully we can lock this deal up
Only problem with this kid is… Scott Boras is his agent but other than that he could become a young Andruw Jones before he turned into a lazy turd off course
My mistake Boras used to be his agent
in agreement also. I liked the idea of adding Damon, but only at a $2-3mil 1yr deal. No way Id pay more than that. After the fact, Id much rather spend the extra cash on some position prospects like this one. We need to get some kids like this before the next draft. Its pretty much loaded with pitchers
This reminds me of other Latin based infielders the Braves have signed: Rafael Furcal, Elvis Andrus, and last but not least Yunel Escobar.
Escobar was drafted. He was a second round pick after getting becoming an US national. But you do have a great point about Andrus and Furcal.
does anybody think it’s kind of funny that ben sheets, a guy who didn’t even play last year, is totally gonna get paid more than douchie damon? niiiice.
this is basically like getting Minor and Salcedo for about the same price as most other teams high first round picks. Good job Wren, get some more position players and load up with pitchers again in next years draft
I think they signed Minor to the record for the slot? Or their record for first round, or something. Either way I never got why media influenced opinion thought he was “the signable” pick if he got that kinda payday
which is ok because Minor is a freakin’ monster and i honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled a Medlen and ended up in the bullpen at least for a few weeks at some point this year. Remember how he did in Rome? .64 era?
Minor is not going to be good. Yes, he did well in A, but he’s expected to. He’s a polished college pitcher. Look at his numbers for the AFL: 4.86 ERA, 8 BB, 1.74 WHIP. YUCK! What we have in Mike Minor is another Jo Jo Reyes on our hands. The Braves deserve it though, they signed him because he was cheaper than the other pitchers on the board. Whenever you don’t draft the best player on the board because of money, you deserve to get burned.
I am happy that the FO is going after this other kid though. It seems like he may be an actual talent. Hopefully they can sign him and redeem themselves for the Minor debacle.
Minor’s change is better than any pitch Jo Jo has and his mental ability far exceeds Reyes’ on the mound. He pitched poorly in the AFL but it’s routinely seen as a serious hitter’s haven of a league, let’s wait and see what he does in AA this year before calling him a complete waste of a pick
Wrong. Minor was the 2nd best pitcher in the draft behind Strasburg. He just doesn’t have as much upside as other pitchers. Most scouts would predict that Minor is the most likely of any pitcher in the draft to get 100 wins. Minor is almost a given to at least be a #4 starter. Of the high upside picks, probably only half of them will pan out.
eh i dunno about the 2nd best behind strasburg. Crow was in it and Matzek
maybe so, but his winter league stats were brutal (small sample of course) but 4.86era, 1.74ERA, .343BAA, and a 2:1 K to BB ratio isnt very enticing. Its a hitters league, but he didnt miss many bats
the problem is since hanson no one will think your a great pitcher unless you do what he did in the AFL
which makes sense considering the braves haven’t picked in the top 10 for a long time before selecting minor. He signed for last year’s slot at the 7th pick whereas the other guys they were considering at 7 (wheeler, matzek) were either taken or signed for nearly 1.5M more than minor
Can someone tell me about this kid? He sounds like he is pretty good.
scouting report….
Edward
Salcedo is a FA SS with a 6’3”, 190 lb. frame from La Vega, Dominican
Republic. Big League body, strong and athletic. Smooth, easy defensive
actions, easy plus arm, can really play SS. Aggressive swing, power
projection, deep load from wide base, good bat speed, geared to drive
fastballs, timing will be an issue. All the tools to be a top player.
Potential 1st round type if in draft….
however, I think he’s more likely to become a 3B
If the Braves sign up Alcedo, whom many have compared to A-Rod with his power and speed (6.81 in a 60 yard dash) then I’ll officially call Frank Wren a genius and glad hes a part of the Braves organization.
Why hasn’t there been any interest about him before? His scouting report sounds like someone who should be highly sought after.
He was sought after back in 2008, but as I stated in my last post, he went through some problems, which screwed up his deal with the Indians.
he was sought after this year. apparently the red sox and some other teams were trying to sign him as well
This kid seems really good and I am getting excited about the possibility of what he could be. But the fact that the Braves are the only team that is showing significant interest in signing this kid to what is going to be considered a below market deal is bothering me. I mean guys like this don’t just fly right under the radar. He should be receiving as much if not more attention and money than Aroldis Chapman did. If the guy has been deemed as 18 years old and is projected to have plus power, speed, and defense; then why are the Brave’s the only team fighting for him? Guys like this don’t grow on trees.
Per DOB’s blog:
“Braves hope to have 18-year-old SS prospect Edward Salcedo signed as soon as he passes a physical. They’ve been working to get him from the Dominican to Florida to take it.
He’s been highly sought by a lot of teams, and Braves consider him equivalent of a first-round draft choice. A high first-round choice.”
I think there has been quite a bit of interest from quite a few teams, but sometimes these sort of signings happen because a team’s representative in the country has built a strong relationship with the player and the player feels commited to signing with the team that has spent them most time with him.
This may not be the case or it may be that the Braves have simply offered the most money. In any case, 2-3M is no small bonus to an international free agent and he does look like first round talent.
I hope that it is because he feels loyal to us. If he already feels that towards the Braves, then it will be good for us later if he happens to pan out. Maybe he will resign with us and not go for free agency.
He most likely won’t equal A-Roid.
indeed. since half of his accomplishments are because of steroids
But maybe we can score a young Andruw..
Yeah I was thinkin the same thing. If this guy is getting comparissons to an A-Rod then why isn’t anybody else other than the Braves looking to get him? I know the Yankees, Giants, and Indians were at it last year but why not now? Either ways wouldn’t hurt to see if this kid pans out to be a great star in the league hopefully.
All the Braves fans can dream can’t we.. LOL.. Hank Aaron Jr. at third base..!
research!!!! there have been reports about numerous teams pursuing him
yesssss finally!ohhhhh man i could not be any happier for this kid as i use to play and practice with him when i was 12 and i went to the Dominican Republic for my 2006 summer vacation and i was practicing and playing for the same team as him.man this kids talent was jaw dropping and all who saw him play were really impressed i remember looking up to him as a player and person his personality and humility far over shined him as a player i remember him making a diving catch from 3rd one game yes he was playing third and not short anyways i thought he had no chance at getting the dude out but from his knees he made a throw that i would never forget by far the greatest play i seen his arm is so good and his batting abilities omg.i was so dissapointed to hear in 07-08 that he didnt sign.but today my dad called me from Dominican Republic and told me he signed for 1.6 million ohhhhhhh man im so excited for him.i hope he lives up to all the hype i definetly think he will.
ohh and from what i heard about the 08 cleveland signing it was tha supposedly scott boras was trying to speed his visa process and lied about his age and thats why cleveland nullified his contract.but im not too sure if that is true i heard this from a family member and his ex trainer/coach in D.R.im not too sure how true that is though.well hope he does good and makes it to the big leagues in a couple of years 3-4 years.hope he has woaahhhhhh stats this year.
Most international signings don’t pan out. He most likely won’t be the next a-roid or andruw. It’s fine to dream, but if the braves think they have their future 3rd baseman all locked up now, that’s probably not wise.
You could say that about any international signing. Obviously, some of them pan out. I agree though that he shouldn’t be considered the future anything until he starts to show potential playing professionally.
At this point I dont even believe this kid exists, he’s like the Loch Ness monster
i think that eddie perez being the next head coach had a lot to do with the brazes being able to sign this guy
Great News!! I’m glad to see the Braves spending some money in the International market.
We actually spend quite a bit of money in the international market snagging guys like Julio Teheran and Christian Bethancourt as just recent examples.
And just like that, Atlanta has their replacement for when Chipper Jones rides off into the sunset. What perfect timing. Salcedo should be ready right when Chip is projected to retire.
As for Escobar leaving via free agency.. not going to happen. If Atlanta didn’t have a longterm plan for Yunel then Jake Peavy would be a Brave and Esco would be in San Diego.
This guy will be a bust. Mark it down.
Most of these guys are, so what’s your point? Or did you just want to make an arguement with no facts or data to back it up?
optismist are you? must be a boring/uneventful life you live
did mario tell you that? or was it luigi? because luigi really doesn’t know that much about sports. he likes to talk the talk, but at the end of the day all he knows is plumbing.
This certainly is Chippers replacement that we did not have in the minor league system!!!
Braves need to sign as many players like this as they can. The farm is loaded with arms, just as next years draft is also, but they are severly lacking position players who are MLB ready
Outside of Heyward you mean….
Also I have to throw Schafer and Freeman in the mix later this year and in 2011, but beyond that there isn’t much close.
yes of course, sorry already penciled him in as our RF’r
I guess Im referring more to middle infield and 3B prospects. Hopefully Prado progresses with the glove a bit at 2B, looks more comfortable in his time at third. But you’re right as well, there are only three guys that look like they are close and two of them (Freeman and Schafer) battled some injuries last season
mike minor 2nd best pitcher in the draft ? take a look at what mike leake did in college and then look what he do in the afl.
i love this signing and hope wren makes a few more like it. Of course Wren hopes ths guy can replace chipper, thats common sense. I hope he doesnt just hand this guy the job though. Wren should sign a similiar player to compete with him. And anyone who wouldnt want a young andrew jones is mental. ANdrew was almost a lock for 500HR and the HOFtill he got lazy.
Glad he lied about his age because he’d be with the Indians right now if that didn’t happen. Actually I heard Scott Boras really messed up with this kid and that’s why he isn’t his agent anymore.
His birthday was legit, but MLB nullified his contract with the Indians when the US thought he was lying, and MLB opened an investigation about his age, and it was confirmed that it was his birthday. This all happened in 2008, when he was 16, now he is 18.
Probably listened to an agent as far as the age thing, before anybody started questioning latin birth certificates. It’s not they’ve been investigating all along.
I read that he originally claimed to be born in 1989.
Why would he claim to be older than he really is?