Headlines

  • Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim
  • Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon
  • Brandon Woodruff To Start For Brewers On Sunday
  • Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds
  • Rangers Option Josh Jung
  • Kevin Pillar Announces Retirement
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Top Outfielder Yasmani Tomas Defects From Cuba

By Steve Adams | June 20, 2014 at 11:58am CDT

11:58pm: MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez hears that Tomas is currently in the Dominican Republic and exploring his options (Twitter link).

9:08am: One of the best players left in Cuba — outfielder Yasmani Tomas — has defected and will pursue a contract in Major League Baseball, reports Baseball America’s Ben Badler.

The 23-year-old Tomas has five professional seasons under his belt, and his combination of age and experience will make him exempt from MLB’s international spending limitations, even after the rules become tighter on July 2 (at that point, the amount of pro experience needed for exemption jumps from three years to five years).

Badler writes that Tomas, who stands 6’1″ and weighs 230 pounds, has 70-grade raw power (on the 20-80 scouting scale), and among current Cuban players, only the highly touted Alfredo Despaigne has more power. While Tomas has experience in center field and “decent” speed for his size, he’s ultimately a below-average runner and will have to play an outfield corner in the Majors. He does have some swing-and-miss tendencies and has shown weakness against plus velocity and breaking pitches. As such, some seasoning in Triple-A would do him some good, in Badler’s opinion, though he doesn’t rule out the possibility that Tomas could jump directly into a big league lineup. In response to a reader on Twitter, Badler notes that despite his upside, Tomas isn’t at the same level as White Sox slugger Jose Abreu, who was more polished coming out of Cuba.

Giving an idea of the type of production he’s shown in Cuba’s Series Nacional over the past few seasons, Badler writes that Tomas slashed .301/.340/.580 with 16 homers in 240 plate appearances in the 2011-12 season and .289/.364/.538 with 15 homers in 324 PA in 2012-13. Tomas regressed, to an extent, in the 2013-14 season, though one source tells Badler it was likely due to an arm injury that he sustained when crashing into the outfield wall midway through the season. Even in his “down” year, Tomas batted a healthy .290/.346/.450 with six homers in 257 PA.

Badler ranked Tomas as the No. 6 prospect in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He trailed the likes of Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreu, the aforementioned Despaigne, top Cuban second baseman Jose Fernandez and slugging infielder Yulieski Gourriel (who has declined since and is now playing in Japan).

Tomas is not yet eligible to sign, as he first needs to establish residence in a foreign country and then be cleared by both Major League Baseball and the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control. Once that happens, he will be declared a free agent and can sign with any team for any amount, but the timeline on those steps is never concrete, and Tomas may not end up signing until late in 2014 or even 2015.

Share 18 Retweet 47 Send via email8

Newsstand Yasmany Tomas

International Prospect Links: Top 30, Padres, Nats, Bonuses
Main
Rangers Claim Justin Marks
View Comments (1)
Post a Comment

1 Comment

  1. ♪

    4 years ago

    It’s like deja vu all over again.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim

    Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

    Brandon Woodruff To Start For Brewers On Sunday

    Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

    Rangers Option Josh Jung

    Kevin Pillar Announces Retirement

    Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On IL With Elbow Fracture

    Braves Designate Alex Verdugo For Assignment

    Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin

    Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury

    Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib

    Tucker Barnhart To Retire

    Tyler Mahle To Be Sidelined Beyond Trade Deadline

    Reds Release Jeimer Candelario

    Dave Parker Passes Away

    Griffin Canning Diagnosed With Ruptured Achilles

    Pirates Reportedly Have Very Few Untouchable Players At Trade Deadline

    Griffin Canning Believed To Have Suffered Achilles Injury

    Mariners Looking For Corner Infield Bats; Ownership Willing To Bump Payroll

    Wander Franco Found Guilty Of Sexual Abuse

    Recent

    Blue Jays To Select Lazaro Estrada

    Padres Seeking Upgrades At Catcher

    Tayler Scott Elects Free Agency

    Rays Outright Forrest Whitley

    White Sox To Recall Colson Montgomery For MLB Debut

    Giants Select Sergio Alcantara

    Max Muncy Expects To Miss Around Six Weeks With Bone Bruise

    Mets To Sign Zach Pop To Major League Contract

    Dodgers Claim CJ Alexander, Designate Steward Berroa For Assignment

    Colten Brewer Opts Out Of Yankees Deal

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version