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Keoni Cavaco To Transition To Pitching, Signs Minor League Deal With Astros

By Darragh McDonald | June 28, 2024 at 5:40pm CDT

The Astros have signed Keoni Cavaco to a minor league deal, reports Kenny Van Doren of MLB Pipeline on X. Cavaco was released by the Twins earlier this month, as relayed by JJ Cooper of Baseball America on X. Per Darren Wolfson of SKOR North on X, the youngster is attempting a transition to pitching and the Astros were one of two teams who requested the move to the mound.

Going into the 2019 draft, Baseball America ranked Cavaco #31 among the available players that year. Their report at that time, when Cavaco had just turned 18, highlighted his immense natural tools. He had shown huge power and speed, as well as having strong third base defense with a plus arm for the hot corner. The biggest question mark was his hitting ability, as some swing-and-miss concerns were already present at the high school level.

That one area of concern wasn’t enough to tamp down the general level of excitement. FanGraphs was even more bullish than BA, putting Cavaco at #22 in the draft. The Twins selected him with the 13th overall pick and signed him to bonus of $4.05MM, $192K below slot value for that pick.

But that high-risk, high-reward play from the Twins has led to no reward at all, as those concerns about his hit tool proved to be prescient. He stepped to the plate 1,110 times while in the Twins’ system but hit just .212/.267/.335. He struck out in 36.8% of his plate appearances and walked only 6.3% of the time. He never advanced higher than the High-A level before being released.

Prior to being let go, he did make three appearances on the mound this year. He tossed two scoreless innings at the High-A level, with two strikeouts and no walks. Even as a high schooler, his arm at third base was considered to be strong, so he will try to use that to improve his job prospects going forward.

For the Astros, there’s little harm in signing a minor league deal and seeing what happens. There’s never been any doubt about Cavaco’s athletic gifts, so perhaps he can forge a path towards the big leagues on the mound instead of at the plate. Though he was drafted five years ago, he is only 23 years old and still has time to shift gears.

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Houston Astros Minnesota Twins Transactions Keoni Cavaco

Cubs Select Jorge López
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Royals Outright Jake Brentz
View Comments (6)
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6 Comments

  1. HopefulTwinsFan

    1 year ago

    Always a bummer when a former first rounder doesn’t pan out where you want him to.
    Hope he can succeed on the mound.

    10
    Reply
  2. yankees500

    1 year ago

    Worked very well for Lucas Erceg. Why not give it a shot?

    3
    Reply
  3. Dorkus Malorkus (3768902)

    1 year ago

    Weird the Twins own pitching minded FO wouldn’t do this.

    9
    Reply
  4. User 355748524

    1 year ago

    Good little signing by the Astros. Gives much better vibes then the trade rumors that seems to be the result of Jim Crane and Co. using Dana Brown as a mouth piece.

    1
    Reply
  5. blueblood1217

    1 year ago

    Would love to see this kid succeed

    2
    Reply
  6. Old York

    1 year ago

    Tough for kids from high school to make that massive jump from high school to professional baseball. All the best to him with this transition.

    2
    Reply

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