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.
Jaime Garcia, Kyle McClellan, Lance Lynn, Jason Motte, Fernando Salas, Eduardo Sanchez, and Mitchell Boggs would like to disagree with your comment about the Cards not having much recent success developing pitchers, stl_cards16.
Luke Gregerson?
I was just typing the same thing….Also, Adam Wainwright should be considered a product of the Cardinals organization as well.
Yeah, Cards have been great IMO. They just didn’t have top end pitching talent to work with until recently. Don’t forget they developed Dan Haren. Jaime Garcia was projected as a back end guy and Cards turned him into a #2-#3. Lynn has mid-rotation potential. Not to mention the slew of bullpen arms. I would argue they’re right up there with Tampa Bay in terms of pitcher development, and now that they finally got some talent into the system to develop, things are looking good.
Garcia is the only one that’s really valuable. The other pitchers have been nothing special. Every organization develops bullpen arms. I don’t think it’s an organizational flaw or anything, there’s just not a great track record of developing starting pitching.
They have 4 SP in the top 100 right now. Hopefully we start to see some of it translate to the majors.
Nothing that’s really valuable? When middle relievers are getting 3 year deals for 4-5 million/year, developing solid to very good relievers is extremely valuable. Just because it is now commonly known that relievers are not as valuable as starters does not mean that relievers are not valuable.
I never said relievers aren’t valuable. They aren’t as valuable as starters and you don’t try to develop middle relievers. Generally they are failed starters. Like I said, I don’t think it’s an organizational flaw or anything. The recent talent surge is due to a change in drafting. Hopefully we start to see the success in the majors soon.
You did say relievers aren’t valuable, by saying Garcia (a starter) was the only Cardinal pitcher developed that was valuable. Unless you are saying that Lynn, Salas, Motte, and Sanchez are not good relievers, which is false. Just because you don’t try to develop middle relievers, does not make them bereft of value.
“Garcia is the only one that’s really valuable.”
Really is the key word here. It’s always nice to have solid relievers come through the system. But that has nothing to do with the lack of quality starting pitching that has come to St. Louis over the last 10 years. Haren and Garcia…….I guess we could count Wainwright, but then we shouldn’t count Haren. So 2 quality MLB starters in almost 10 years.
“Really”, in the sense you used it, is very ambiguous and saying its the “key word” does not get you out of this bucket of syrup. You’re other point (of us not developing starters very well) is well taken.
Absolutely agree. Can I throw Chris Perez in the mix?
Failed to mention here he’s 6’3” 200 pounds. Could be another great signing by the Cards if they project this guy to gain velocity as he matures. The reported gains already are a nice sign. If this guy can get to 92-94 as he fills out, that will be a great from the left side. Look forward to hearing more about him.
You have to remember that southpaws generally tend to throw a tick or two slower than right handed pitchers, so it’s more like 91-92 rather than 89-90. So a left hand pitcher with a good frame that could add on a couple more MPH to his FB. Combine that with a decent feel for some offspeed pitches and he’s looking like a LOOGY at worse.
There is probably like a one in a hundred chance this kid pans out. But once in a while a pedro martinez comes along so I guess why not take a chance for how little money it cost
Loving all of these signings by the Cardinals. This guy could be a stud in the future….or he could be a dud. Regardless, its worth the risk in signing him because the Dominican Republic has a great track record in producing some great players.
I have a feeling that 4-5 years from now Cardinal fans are going to realize that the biggest favor Pujols ever did the city of STL was not saddling them with a 200+ million dollar contract. All of this international money is likely coming from the pool they had saved to pay APu
So i guess he might be 19-20 yrs?
Never heard of him either, but if anyone can make this kid a pitcher, its the Cards organization. Remeber, 11-12 years ago they signed some kid named Pujols that no one ever heard of.
The Cardinals haven’t had much recent success developing pitchers. With the slew of talent in the minors right now, hopefully they’ll start to see some success.
that was when they had Dave Duncan, though.
Those two situations are not even slightly similar.
^ win!!
Dan Haren, Jamie Garcia and a crazy huge group of Relievers disagree
Really? Dan Haren and Jaime Garcia beg to differ. Both of them are really good pitchers in their own right. And then you’ve got Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, and Tyrell Jenkins in the farm system with a few more intriguing arms.
in the minors?
Sanchez is nasty and I really like Lynn. But neither are starters. Lynn could be a good BOR arm. Still doesn’t change the fact that they’ve developed very few starters over the last decade.
it doesn’t have to do with them developing players it has to do with them drafting high ceiling players. Until Lunhow? came along they only drafted safe college arms that were mid rotation at best. Now we’re taking the Shelby Millers and Tyrell Jenkins of the world. I’m all for it.
Lynn is definitely not a bullpen arm, he’s clearly a starter. He’s got a fastball that sits in the low 90s with sinking action, but can get it up to around 95/96 when he’s in a limited role. He’s also got a change up and a curve ball that both project to be at least average. But his combination of frame, competitiveness, and command of his pitches definitely projects to a starter.
Completely agree and that’s exactly what I said above. Now we need to start seeing some it translate into the majors.
As a starter he is still a “prospect”. He has proven he can do it out of the pen. But I think it’s a little early to claim him as a success for developing starting pitching. Hopefully over the next few years he’ll have some success.
He’s thrown nearly 250 IP at the AAA level over the course of the last three seasons, so he’s clearly ready to step into the rotation at the big league level. The problem is that there isn’t a spot open for him right now with Carpenter/Wainwright/Garcia/Lohse/Westbrook firmly entrenched as our starters. With both Westbrook and Lohse’s contracts up after the year, the Cardinals could conceivably add both Lynn and Shelby Miller to the 2013 rotation.