The Cardinals have signed 17-year-old Dominican left-hander Erick Hurtado, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. Hurtado's signing bonus isn't immediately available.
The 6'3", 200-pound Hurtado's fastball sat in the 86-88mph range last summer as the July 2 free agency deadline approached, but Badler writes that he's recently begun to sit in the high 80s and has even topped out in the 90-91mph range. While he's still raw, Badler explains that Hurtado shows "some feel" for his curveball and has also mixed in a changeup.
The Cardinals have been active in the Dominican Republic in the past few days; they recently finalized a deal with Andres Serrano, another 17-year-old Dominican hurler, though Serrano is right-handed.
