The Twins have agreed to terms with second-round pick Alerick Soularie and fourth-round pick Marco Raya, reports Darren Wolfson of SKOR North and 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). They’re also expected to finish up a deal with first-rounder Aaron Sabato before long. He’ll be in town for a physical next week, per Wolfson.
Soularie, 20, had a huge freshman season with San Jacinto College in Texas before transferring to the University of Tennessee and posting similarly impressive sophomore numbers. In his two seasons with the Tennessee program (2019 and this year’s shortened 2020 campaign), the outfielder batted a combined .336/.448/.586 with 16 homers, 14 doubles, a triple and 10 steals in 311 plate appearances. The Cards initially drafted Soularie after his 2018 showing with San Jacinto, but not until the 29th round, so his decision not to sign at that point will pay substantial dividends. Soularie’s No. 59 slot comes with a $1.19MM slot value.
MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets that Soularie’s bonus will check in at $900K, which falls a bit shy of his No. 59 overall slot’s $1.185MM value. Pre-draft rankings on Soularie ranged from 105th overall at MLB.com to 175th at Baseball America and 193rd at FanGraphs. He’s touted for his hit tool and what is currently an all-fields, line-drive approach. MLB.com’s report on him suggests that he could eventually tap into 20-homer power, though, and Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs noted that Soularie has “some similarities to Khris Davis.”
Raya, meanwhile, was a Texas Tech commit who ranked 238th on Longenhagen’s list and 291st at BA. Both reports on him note that he has an above-average slider and a heater that reaches the mid-90s, with praising his ability to spin not only a slider but also a potentially above-average curveball. Raya is just 6’0″ and 160 pounds, so some scouts surely questioned his size.
How could you be hoping a guy can tap into “20-homer power” and comparing him to Kris Davis… like either he’s a (basically) one-tool slugger like Davis and thus should be able to massively surpass “20-homer power” or he isn’t like Davis and is more of a gap hitter who might also be able to add some pop to his repitoire — idk just seems odd to make the comp to Davis if the kid would be ‘lucky’ to crack 20-something HRs
Maybe hes got Chris Davis power. 20 homers and year and a .165 Ba.
Also based on the fact that the kid popped 16 HRs in 256 ABs between college in summer leagues… I feel like it’s safe to say he’s kind of already tapped into “20-homer power” lol. Whether or not that translates at the professional level remains to be seen… But it seems like he already has decent power… And doesn’t necessarily need to ‘tap into it’ haha