The Indians have signed 18-year-old Japanese outfielder Takuya Tsuchida, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Sulia link).
The speedy left-handed hitter's best positions are second base and center field, according to Hoynes. Tsuchida is expected to report to Spring Training with the team's minor leaguers and will likely begin 2013 in extended Spring Training. As Hoynes notes, general manager Chris Antonetti had roughly $700K of the team's $2.9MM international spending cap to work with prior to signing Tsuchida.
On the international front the Indians have already signed prospects Grofy Cruz, Francisco Mejia, Yoiber Marquina, and Naoki Hashimoto.
Pretty amazing that someone named “Francisco” has the most normal, boring name in a class with guys named Grofy, Takuya, Yoiber and Naoki.
Perhaps you should get more exposed to foreign names.
How is this not international diplomacy news, like the talk of MLB teams interested in Otani? Isn’t NPB going to be all up in arms about this?
Not a single NPB team pick him during the draft. Probably won’t be any problem at all since they don’t even want him.
So this young man wasn’t good enough to be selected in the Japan league draft, yet the Indians think enough of him to sign him as a free agent. I wonder who is right about his talent.
Well, no one selected Red Sox’s Tazawa during his first draft too.
Maybe Indians scout saw something good.
The odds of that are very small. Selig said the only other team with a worse farm were the Red Sox. This means our scouts and player development guys are sub- par.
He is a switch hitter. Do not trust Hoynes to be factually correct.
Poor kid, he’s probably just trying to avoid the radiation. If he’s looking to be developed he’d be better off in Japan.