The international market is ready to get cranking again, with a new July 2nd class just around the corner. As usual, Ben Badler of Baseball America and Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com are providing plenty of insight. Badler just released his ranking of the 50 best international prospects, with lengthy scouting reports as well as anticipated signing teams and bonuses where available (a BA subscription is required). Sanchez, meanwhile, has his own top 30 rankings and scouting reports posted. On the top of Badler’s rankings is Cuban outfielder Victor Victor Mesa, who has yet to be declared a free agent by Major League Baseball. The other key distinction in his case is that he’s much older and more advanced than the bulk of the available talent. Indeed, Badler believes that Mesa is ready for an upper-minors placement, meaning he may not actually be far from the majors if he can translate his skills into professional production. Sanchez pegs Venezuelan catcher Diego Carataya as the top talent in the class, though perhaps only by way of technicality; because Mesa is not yet formally a free agent, he’s absent from the MLB.com list entirely.
Of course, when it comes to bringing in new talent, the immediate action remains centered around the 2018 amateur draft class:
- With a deadline of July 6 to work out bonuses, there’s still plenty of time left for unsigned players to come to terms. At present, there are a fair number of first-rounders who’ve yet to lock up agreements. That includes four first-round players: No. 4 pick Nick Madrigal (White Sox), No. 5 pick Jonathan India (Reds), No. 7 pick Ryan Weathers (Padres), and No. 8 pick Carter Stewart (Braves). There’s no indication to this point that the respective teams will have trouble finalizing things. As always, you can catch up on the latest signings with our 2018 Amateur Draft tag.
- Over the coming weeks, of course, we could begin to see some situations develop that warrant closer attention. It seems there’s at least a bit of uncertainty between the Brewers and their top pick, Brice Turang. The same can be said with regard to a few other talented young players. Ethan Hankins, the No. 35 overall selection, is still in talks with the Indians, as GM Mike Chernoff says and MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. But he also has an arrangement in place with Chipola College’s JuCo baseball program that would enable him to play a year and then re-enter next year’s draft, Doug Freeman of Prep Baseball Report tweets. Similarly, Pirates draftee Gunnar Hoglund — who went one pick after Hankins — has begun attending summer school orientation at Ole Miss, per Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs (via Twitter).
- Elsewhere, the status of Oregon State lefty Luke Heimlich remains uncertain as he participates in the finals of the College World Series. But Royals GM Dayton Moore had some noteworthy comments on the situation recently, leaving many to wonder if the Kansas City organization will make a move to add a player whose abilities aren’t questioned, but carries a highly controversial status as a convicted sexual offender. Indeed, Moore has already spoken on Heimlich quite a bit, as Rustin Dodd of The Athletic explains (subscription link). It’ll ultimately come down to an ownership call that has yet to be made, according to Dodd, who writes: “The Royals are not close to signing Heimlich, nor do they have any framework for a deal in place, according to a source familiar with the situation.” It’s hard to know just why the organization (or, perhaps, Moore personally) decided to air its feelings on this subject before reaching a decision. Now that he has, though, perhaps the public reaction will help inform the ultimate course of action.
Moore aired his feelings on Heimlich for the sole reason of gauging the public reaction.
Since it’s been panned by a healthy majority of Royals fans, I don’t think we’ll hear about it for awhile. They definitely won’t be signing him.
Why not? Bugg Selig leaked every idea out there for public debate and then acted on it. And somebody will end up signing him eventually, he’s just too talented.
I’d like to see Heimlich signed. I don’t think anyone (outside of him and the child) will ever really know what happened. If they guy really is innocent, it would be a shame for him to lose out on a chance for a pro career.
The guy pled guilty to molesting a 6 year old child. I don’t care what he claims (bad legal reps) he admitted his guilt in a court of law and doesn’t deserve anything in life other than his RSO status.
His parents were the ones who suggested he accept the deal. He was 15. Hardly an adult. Difficult family situation, as it was his niece hes accused of molesting.
Was never suppose to get out, and whole thing was to wiped clean after five years.
If you’ve read up on it. He could be innocent.
I agree. It could’ve drug on forever, but pleading guilty and moving on it was supposed to be sealed. I can see him trying his luck overseas for awhile.
So… he could be innocent despite writing a 7-page incredibly detailed confession about molesting a 6-year old girl? Seriously… you really believe that? Or are you just trying to rationalize the chance of your favorite team signing him?
What RSO status? The terms of his plea were that if he satisfied the terms of his probation and behaved himself he would be dropped from the registry after 5 years and he was.
Maybe you should read all the info before you say that. portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/385703-274945-pen…
The Portland Tribune is a twice weekly paper & unless they did their own investigation then you can make that your only source for information. The only reason Luke case became public is because he was accused of failing to register in Benton County where Oregon State is located & the Sheriff & the DA came out publicly and said that Luke wasn’t in violation
That’s goofy. He pled guilty. Of course occasionally someone pleads guilty when they are in fact innocent however, it’s extremely rare and in this case, their is no record of him claiming he wasn’t guilty until after the records were sealed.
He took the plea because he was assured that it would never become public knowledge Assuming he fulfilled the terms of the plea, which he did.
Not to defend this situation at all, but if you think it is only occasionally that people plead guilty to things they are innocent of you need to get your head out of the sand.
A minor being strong-armed by his parents and/or lawyer into pleading guilty to a crime they didn’t commit isn’t common, but it’s not as uncommon as you want to believe. Based on what I know about the case, I get the feeling that he did it. But if he in fact didn’t do it, I’m afraid the only way he will ever have a job in MLB is if he can get the girl or her mom to confess that they made it up while he’s wearing a wire like what Brian Banks did.
So basically your reasoning is, despite pleading guilty there is a chance he didn’t molest a six year old child, and might have been a third round pick so should be signed, do you hear yourself? Ask ra Dickey if anybody should sign this guy
He’d have been a first rounder if not for this
Unless a court of law states he is not allowed to have a job than he has paid his debt. What he (likely) did is wrong, but he paid is legal debt. People’s gripe should be with the court offering a plea or the legal system. Fact of the matter is if he can be signed then he should be.
*says he is not allowed
I’m a Royals fan… I have read everything I could get my hands on in regards to the LH situation. Ultimately the decision is David Glasses, not Dayton Moore’s. That said, I hope if any team signs LH, I hope it is the Royals. I believe Dayton Moore is the perfect general manager for LH. Luke needs to be nurtured and mentored by someone that will genuinely care about him, Not just his left arm. Dayton Moore is that person. There are a lot of red flags that make me believe there’s a reasonable chance that LH never touched his niece. Even if he did, I don’t think it’s good for anyone if he is kept from pursuing a baseball career. After all, playing professional baseball is just a job, and his niece is no better or no worse off if he’s a baseball player, accountant, or a car salesman. Perhaps if LH has a long and lucrative baseball career he could do good with the money he earns.
What about what the little girl he pled guilty to molesting on more than one occasion needs?
You bring up some fair points…but saying that he deserves a professional baseball career “even if he did [touch his niece]” is ridiculous, and kind of appalling honestly.
Yes, he’s innocent until proven guilty, and yes the court of public opinion hasn’t done him any favors, and yes there’s a chance he didn’t do it. We can debate if he deserves a chance all day, and if it’s ever proven that he really is innocent then I’ll be the first one to give him an apology.
But if it’s ever somehow proven that he touched his niece, then he never deserves to set foot on a baseball field ever again. Playing pro baseball is a privilege, and I don’t have any semblance of sympathy for anyone found to have done the things he’s accused of, so I don’t think he’d deserve any of the benefits of getting to play pro baseball. Signing him if he’s proven to have done it is basically an admission that winning is more important than anything that those victims go through, which is a terrible message to send.
Mr Chaney let me say this I am a survivor of a sexual assault & I know what I’ve been through in the almost 5 decades since & what the Young lady deserves is all the care & support in the world.
Luke Heimlich deserves a 2nd chance & considering he’s made the most out of the 2nd chance he’s been given says a lot & for people like you who want to throw him in the gutter & leaving him there is the wrong thing to do. Everyone should want Luke to be a successful member of society & if you don’t agree then there is something wrong with you more than there is with Luke.
MLB is an entertainment industry. It’s at least in part directed towards kids. This guy shouldn’t be anywhere near a ball park or the thousands of kids that would attend the games.
Can we just get real for a second? It’s not like the guy smoked pot or had a few bar fights he is accused of molesting a kid, and I read the articles and I don’t see all this obvious innocence you guys are talking about, both of the girls parents still steadfastly say he did it, so beyond him claiming he didn’t I just don’t see how it’s not more likely that it happened, the fact that people are pushing for him to get a chance is honestly kind of gross
Of course they are going to say he did it. We have to know what actually happened before we can make any real conclusions but unfortunately the only people who know that (and likely ever will) are Heimlich and his niece.
We can make the conclusion that he had his day in court and pled guilty. Then, when faced with the reality that it may hurt his chances of getting into MLB, retracted his prior confession and called his Niece a liar.
This ‘DNA, or video proof of a crime, or I can doubt it happened” garbage needs to stop.
We can also make the conclusion that he was strong-armed by his parents and his attorney into accepting a guilty plea. We can also make the conclusion that he was assured that if he pled guilty, satisfied the terms of his probation and behaved himself, this would not affect his chances of playing in MLB. We can also make the conclusion that he called his niece a liar and insisted on his innocence from a literal standpoint all along. He isn’t just now doing it because it got leaked out.
Absolutely it does not need to stop! The innocent until proven guilty rule exists for a reason. Heimlich’s parents literally said that, knowing what they know now, they would have gotten a different lawyer and not pushed their son to plead guilty. I never even said I doubt it happened. What I said is that we need to know what actually happened in order to deal with the situation properly.
No. You cannot come to those conclusions. Those are possibilities you are trying to use to excuse him. They are NOT conclusions..
He also did not satisfy the terms of the deal.
It was his stupidity allowing his Sex Offender registration to lapse that brought the case to the attention of the Oregonian Newspaper in the first place.
Also, Juvenile Sex convictions DO NOT remain sealed in Oregon.
The fact that his own parents are defending him is immaterial as proof of his guilt or innocence.
Yes we can make those conclusions. If you use this cool new tool called Google you will see that they are all quite literally fact. I’m not trying to excuse anyone.
He did satisfy the terms of his deal and consequently, the whole thing was expunged from his criminal record after 5 years. As far as the the US legal system is concerned, Luke Heimlich has never committed a crime in his life.
He did what he was told he had to do with the registration thing. Multiple sites confirm that the error was on the part of the sheriff’s office, not Heimlich himself. That is why he and his lawyer were able to get the citation for failing to register dismissed.
He pled guilty in Washington, not Oregon. Regardless, it does appear he was given poor legal advice.
His parents’ comments do indicate that they feel they were given poor legal advice and that if they were to do it again, they’d want to get to the truth rather than making their son plead guilty to crime he might not have committed.
But you didn’t think about all that did you mullethead?
pplama- You didn’t read all the information. If you read all of the SI article, you would know Heilich actually did all he needed to do as far registering. The problem came when the Oregan State police did not take his fingerprints. Because of that, Heimlich’s case was not filed properly and the newspaper was able to find his files.
So, yeah, Heimlich actually did do what he was told. The system just made an enormous mistake. Check out the SI article. The part about Heimlich’s registration issues is about 2/3 of the way into it.
si.com/mlb/2018/05/16/luke-heimlich-oregon-state
Why can we make that conclusion? Because when the cows come home to roost he cried foul and said that’s what happened? Just like every one in prison is innocent, you sound really elitghend man let me tell you
And he plead guilty!? Like are you serious with the innocent until proven guilty, how is that concept hard to understand, pleading guilty is an admission of guilt we aren’t even talking alfard plea here, and again I’m sorry dude but when you say he was trying to protect his major league feature he was 15 for Christ sake and last but not least if you didn’t molest a kid would you plead guilty to molesting a kid?
Where did I say that’s what happened? PLEASE tell me. I actually said if I had to guess, he probably did it. But we don’t know what happened and we need to know what happened in order to judge him properly.
I really hope you never have kids, god forbid you have to explain to them that sports and stuff like proper registeration are what really matters I don’t care if he did twenty years in the can, if he molested a child he doesn’t deserve retribution plain and simple and if you are too dense to see that I’m not so certain you deserve any either
He pled guilty because his parents strong-armed him into doing so you downer! They literally said they wouldn’t have done that knowing what they do now. Situations like that aren’t common, but they DO happen. No, I would not plead guilty to something I didn’t do but it has been known to happen.
Brian Banks pleased guilty to a sex crime back in 2002 for similar reasons as Heimlich and later was able to get the accuser to confess that she made it up while wearing a wire. Pleasing guilty may be a legal admission of guilt, but it means nothing wrt whether or not he did it.
I really hope you don’t have kids considering your unparalleled arrogance, inability to understand the simplest concepts and lack of social skills. If Heimlich actually did do what he was accused of, I agree he should still be in prison today. What I’m saying is we don’t know what actually happened and that I wish we did so that the proper resolution could be attained.
Please never breed.
Again. The records are not sealed in Oregon.
That SI puff piece, reminiscent of the Ray Rice, Floyd Mayweather, Jameis Winston and Mike Tyson puff pieces that preceded it, is part of the problem.
He never should have been a Pitcher at Oregon. The school would have been made aware of his conviction. But if rapists, abusers and molesters are good a playing with a ball, they look the other way.
He never should be drafted.
The victim must be believed for the crime HE pled guilty to.
If indeed he committed the crime he plead guilty to, then I agree. But we don’t know if he did it and likely never will. I wish the case had gone to trial so that the correct conclusion, whatever it might be, would have been reached.
Ok that’s fine. So we should have killed him the moment he plead guilty. If he can’t pursue something he’s good at because of a guilty plea to heinous crime 7 years ago, we shouldve executed him on the spot. But that’s not how our justice system works, especially with minors.
Pplama- What facts do you find incorrect in the SI article and what are your sources?
As a survivor of a sexual assault I totally disagree with you about it being kind of gross that people say that Luke Heimlich should get a 2nd chance & it’s really too bad you have a closed mind.
wow and I liked moore. that’s ship has sailed. So let’s have him around kids at the park and team events. ya that sounds ethical.
this kind of crap is the reason I don’t watch football anymore. Baseball has always been so much better ethics and diversity wise. This would tarnish the reputation of mlb.
So what is your solution? That this man should not be allowed to have a career? Keeping someone from earning a living is a sure way of turning that person into a career criminal. At that point, what do they have to lose?
He went to college. He can easily get a job that doesn’t involve talking to kids at the ball park.
A professional baseball players job does not require him to talk to kids at the ball park.
I’m not opposed to a team signing Heimlich. 15 years old and he’s stayed straight since then it seems.
Nobody really knows what happened. All we know is he took a deal for pleading guilty at 15. Has he been in trouble since? Not that I’m aware. I say take a shot.
Hopefully he does something nice if he gets a shot like a foundation for child abuse victims or something.
Multiple articles on other websites, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, have stated that the Pirates signed Gunnar Hoglund the day after the draft, and that he is foregoing is commitment to Ole Miss. I’m confused now, because this article suggests he’s still unsigned and leaning towards going to Ole Miss. Can someone clarify what’s happening? It’s just an odd situation.
There is a difference between reaching an agreement, which is what was reported, and signing. Multiple outlets have reported him as not signing yet.
This young man made a mistake. He plead guilty and met the requirements of his sentence. As far as I am concerned he has paid his debt to society. Personally I do not feel qualified to judge him…and I’m surprised there are so many here who believe they are.
People get off on passing judgement from way up on their high horses.
My opinion of the situation is that while the crime is horrible, it did not earn him a death sentence. Therefore, he should have the right to earn a living regardless of his past. If we as a society deem that particular as irredeemable, then we should execute offenders. Otherwise, let the man put it behind him and try to become a productive member of society.
Besides, I don’t really believe he did it anyway. I think he was used by the girl’s mother as a way to get full custody of the girl away from Luke’s uncle. Seriously, read up on the case. She’s the real monster.
Heimlich wrote a 7-page confession admitting in detail how he abused his niece sexually, which was admitted into court as evidence. He wrote the document and signed it. That’s a confession. Of course he did it.
So what is your solution? Should we execute him immediately? Should we exile him to an uninhabited island? He has served the sentence imposed on him by law and paid his debt to society. The guy deserves a chance to redeem himself and have a career.
Players have been banned and blackballed from the game for far less. There are plenty of talented players in the college ranks who never got a chance, or fell down several rounds in the draft for character issues.
Name the guys that have been banned. And as for the guys who fell low in the draft they werent prevented from playing the sport they just were drafted later.
You could not be more wrong. He did not write a seven page letter detailing anything. He was required by the judge to write a letter of apology to his niece, which he did.
Ultimate I don’t believe the Royals (or any team for that matter) will sign Heimlich. I can’t imagine the logistical and PR nightmare that awaits any club that signs the guy. Wouldn’t he have to register as a sex offender everywhere he travels to play ball? At least a dozen times per year depending on how many road trips his team takes.
No he doesn’t. According to the story I read, the reason he pled guilty was that he would only have to register for 5 years. That period is over.
It’s ridiculous to pick through everything trying to find mitigating factors here or there. I don’t care what he says now, he plead guilty in a crim sex case. Should people guilty of crim sex offenses (or pick your favorite category of offenses) who take their consequences and move on, be allowed too play ball, or not?
If he was a plumber when he allowed to have a job as a plumber? If was construction would he be allowed to be out there working construction today? Well if his trade happens to be playing baseball then I guess he should be playing baseball.