Now that Cuban outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez is officially able to sign, he’s meeting with the Rangers today to hammer out a deal, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. It is believed that the sides will agree to a $2.8MM bonus.
Texas has been seen as the favorite to land Martinez for the past several weeks. Indeed, the Rangers have struck two trades — see here and here — to max out their possible international bonus pool assets. Having already spent a good bit of money over the past year or so, the Rangers have $2.8MM left and are expected to spend it all on Martinez.
While the Yankees and Marlins were also reportedly in pursuit of Martinez, all indications at this point are that he’s zeroed in on the Rangers. For Texas, the move will bring a high-quality prospect into the organization who may not be far from seeing the majors. Badler says that Martinez will jump right into BA’s top 100 prospects list. The 21-year-old is a left-handed hitter who is said to possess good power and speed.
Sadly he’s not that good. Look at the number linked above, keep in mind those were posted in the cuban league.
Guess all those scouts saying he’s a top 100 prospect need to find new jobs then.
Grabbing for straws since you guys swung and missed with ohtani and maitan. 270 hitter at 21 in a league stacked with far leas talent then any AA or AAA teams. Just because “scouts” say someone is good how often are they wrong lol. Yosmani Tomas comes to mind….
Says his 2017 batting was .297/.345/.449… stretch the counters out over a full season that’s roughly 20 HR and 60 SB. A 21 year old in AAA or AA would be getting a lot of attention and hype too.
Because you see his stats and immediately call him a bust…I can see why you are a MLB GM…which team you with again? Oh, right. You just a hater.
Didn’t realize signing a No. 2 international prospect is “grabbing at straws”. If you’re going to troll at least be good. If you’re serious, maybe get more educated.
Yep, teams should listen to “commentets” who have never seen him play.
^commenters
Why should we trust you over people make a living watching guys like him play?
Well his numbers are pretty comparable to what Francisco Lindor put up in the minors at the same age, so yanno, there’s that.
I’ll take the pro’s words since they’ve actually seen the kid play. Thanks for the chuckle, though.
Remind me how Yasmany Tomas (spelling helps, btw) is a failure, a flop, a bust, with a 98 OPS+…
The Cuban league is in such a poor state right now, that football(soccer) has overtaken baseball as the most popular sport. His numbers are not impressive whatsoever.
A .293/.393/.430 batting line for a 16- to 20-year-old playing against grown men is plenty impressive, especially when you look at what he did his last two years. He may not be a star in the major leagues, but he’ll be a big league player — and has the tools to be a very solid one.
The salt is real with this one.
Keep in mind he’s also about a decade younger than most of his competition
Oh, so you’re a major league scout?
How does Julio compare to Luis Robert?
I know Ben Badler compared him to Granderson circa his Tigers years but I haven’t seen much out there comparing him to Robert or their abilities at the time they were able to sign
I believe Robert is slightly better than Julio, Robert has comparable stats at a younger age. Plus a better speed tool.
Can’t compare them at all, Robert is leagues better.
The next Leonys Martin lol?
Could be. But Martin’s struggles in the big leagues weren’t for a lack of talent. And for all of his struggles at the plate, he still had a couple of really productive years for the Rangers.
If Martinez is as good a defensive center fielder as Martin was, I’d be OK with his offense falling shy of his ceiling.
Why does everyone think scouting is an exact science?
There are a lot of non measurables that go into being a productive player.
All a scout can do is look at the measurable things and evaluate a player’s chances based on that.