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Oscar Colas

Oscar Colas Declared Free Agent By Major League Baseball

By Steve Adams | December 23, 2020 at 1:47pm CDT

1:47pm: Colas will work out for teams early in 2021, reports ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (Twitter links), but there’s a “real shot” he’ll wait a year to sign in order to get the largest deal possible. Upwards of a third of the league has some interest in Colas, McDaniel adds, with the White Sox and Astros among the interested parties.

8:50am: Major League Baseball has declared outfielder/pitcher Oscar Colas a free agent, reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). The 22-year-old was recently declared a free agent by Japan’s SoftBank Hawks after an ugly dispute between player and team. Colas and his family publicly alleged that he was deceived when signing his original contract — a deal he believed to be three years in length but one that held several club option years. Jim Allen outlined the saga in a thorough piece for the Kyodo News earlier this summer, and fans unfamiliar with Colas and his story will want to read Allen’s story for full context on the situation.

Turning to the future for Colas, he’ll now be eligible to sign with a team beginning on Jan. 15, 2021. That’s the official kickoff date for the 2020-21 international signing period — a date that was pushed back from its typical July 2 commencement as teams placed their focus and resources elsewhere while seeking to ramp up for shortened 2020 season.

Given his age and lack of professional experience, Colas is restricted to signing a minor league contract and is subject to international bonus pools. A team cannot exceed its league-allotted bonus pool in order to sign Colas, and teams aren’t allowed to trade international pool space for the 2020-21 period (another concept agreed to as the league sorted out return-to-play conditions prior to the season).

That, as Baseball America’s Ben Badler explained yesterday, leads to a tricky situation for Colas. Using the White Sox as an example, Badler writes that between outfielder Yoelki Cespedes, who recently agreed to sign with the Sox once the signing period officially begins, and prior agreements with righty Norge Vera and others, most of the ChiSox’ pool is already used up. Most teams throughout the league are in a similar spot, per Badler.

That’s not uncommon, as most deals for international amateurs are agreed to months or even years in advance. But it’s also not a good thing for Colas, who is only now becoming a free agent at a time when most teams have committed the bulk of their signing pools to other players. Badler suggests that Colas could consider waiting all the way until the 2021-22 signing period to agree to terms with a deal, although it’s likely that some clubs will try to sway him to sign sooner than that.

There’s a good bit of hype surrounding Colas, some of which stems from the dubious “Cuban Ohtani” moniker associated with him. That seems an unfair and frankly misleading nickname to place on a player who, despite reportedly possessing a fastball that can touch 95 mph, has pitched just 3 1/3 professional innings, all of which came as a 19-year-old during the 2018-19 Cuban National Series. Colas didn’t pitch during his time with the Hawks. Ohtani, meanwhile, had 543 innings of 2.52 ERA ball with 624 strikeouts in NPB by the time he jumped to the Majors as a 23-year-old.

Colas spent the bulk of his time in Japan with the Hawks’ minor league club in the Japan Western League, which is certainly sensible given that he was just 18 upon reporting to the Hawks for his first season. He struggled in his first Western League campaign but raked at a .302/.350/.516 clip in 2019, earning a promotion to the Hawks’ big league roster as a 20-year-old. Colas homered in his first plate appearance after the promotion and went 5-for-18 with that homer, a walk and six strikeouts in 21 trips to the plate. During his first two years with the Hawks, he’d also suit up during the winter for his pro team in Cuba. Overall, in parts of three seasons in Cuba’s top league, Colas is a .305/.381/.487 hitter.

FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen doesn’t have Colas near the top of his international prospect rankings, writing that he’s a “more stable prospect as a lefty first base/designated hitter/right field type” than as a pitcher. That’s not to say that a team won’t try to develop him on the mound, but comparisons to Ohtani simply don’t seem appropriate.

For all the intrigue surrounding the 22-year-old Colas, there’s also considerable uncertainty, both as to when he might actually sign and whether clubs will view him as a legitimate two-way option or prefer to focus on developing his abilities as a hitter and outfielder.

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2020-21 International Prospects Chicago White Sox Houston Astros Oscar Colas

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Oscar Colas Declared Free Agent By NPB’s SoftBank Hawks

By Mark Polishuk | December 2, 2020 at 8:29am CDT

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have declared Oscar Colas a free agent, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter links).  The move ends months of controversy between the club, Nippon Professional Baseball, and Colas’ representatives over amount of team control the Hawks held over Colas as per the terms of his original contract.

The next step for Colas is an application for MLB free agency.  Once this is granted, Colas will be eligible to be signed under standard international signing rules, and will in all likelihood be available when the next int’l signing window opens on January 15.  As a reminder, this is the 2020-21 window that would have normally began last July 2, except the signing period was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sanchez writes that Colas’ representatives are already working to arrange a scouting showcase for their client, a 22-year-old who holds some potential as a two-way player.  Colas’ official pitching experience is limited to 3 1/3 innings in the Serie Nacional (Cuba’s top league) during the 2018-19 season, though he is said to possess a fastball that can hit 95mph.

There is much more data on Colas as a batter, as he hit .305/.381/.487 over 273 plate appearances in the Serie Nacional, and then posted an .825 OPS over 21 PA for the Hawks in 2019.  (Colas also hit well for the Hawks’ minor league squad in the Western League.)  In the field, Colas has played both first base and as a corner outfielder during his brief pro career.

Assuming no snags in his paperwork and clearances, Colas is a very intriguing entry into the 2020-21 international signing market.  Many teams have already committed large chunks of their int’l signing pools to other players, so the market for Colas may be determined by how much remaining pool space certain teams have available.  Pool funds also cannot be traded during this year’s signing period.

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2020-21 International Prospects Nippon Professional Baseball Oscar Colas

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Oscar Colas Seeking Release From Contract With Japanese Team

By Jeff Todd | June 10, 2020 at 12:43pm CDT

It emerged in January that intriguing Cuban talent Oscar Colas — who holds promise both as a pitcher and position player — was seeking to launch a big-league career. While he departed his home island to pursue that dream, there are some other complications that must still be navigated.

Colas drew attention last year for his high-quality showing with Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. But as Jim Allen reports for Kyodo News, that appearance left some strings attached in the world’s top non-MLB league.

You’ll want to read Allen’s piece for the full rundown, but the gist is that Colas’s contract grants the Hawks five option years. His representatives believe the deal should be invalidated, at least after its initial term expires after the 2020 season.

There are several issues with the original agreement, Colas’s camp contends. For one thing, they say it was signed before he reached the age of consent under Japanese law (and without the signature of his guardian). For another, Colas’s reps claim the agreement was orchestrated by the Hawks and Cuban baseball officials, with Colas not fully informed of some key terms. Colas’s mother says the family believes it was “deceived” by the process. She alleges that the family never had an understanding of the options or a chance to review the contract before it was put in front of Colas to sign during a news conference. Allen’s report makes clear that there are several messy underlying factual disagreements, including whether Colas even personally signed certain documents.

It is not clear at this point whether and how this matter will be resolved. Colas’s reps have offered that he would play in 2020 if he’s allowed to depart thereafter, but the team has unsurprisingly insisted it retains control rights thereafter.

Colas will surely draw interest from MLB organizations if and when he’s able to market himself, whether through the posting process or as a free agent. Whatever the merits of the underlying factual disputes, this represents yet another instance in which a ballplayer has become entangled on the largely unmarked, obstacle-strewn path from Cuba to the majors.

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Oscar Colas

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Oscar Colas To Seek MLB Deal

By Connor Byrne | January 3, 2020 at 12:13pm CDT

Cuban two-way prospect Oscar Colas has defected in hopes of landing a major league contract, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets. Francys Romero of Las Mayores first reported on Colas’ defection.

The 21-year-old Colas is an outfielder/pitcher who most recently played with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan, where he slashed .300/.353/.511 with 12 home runs in 295 plate appearances in 2019. As a left-handed pitcher, Colas is capable of hitting 95 mph, according to Passan.

It remains to be seen whether Colas will emerge as a two-way threat in the majors a la Shohei Ohtani, but nevertheless, it’s likely he’ll get “significant interest” from major league teams, per Passan. Colas could wait until at least July to sign with a big league club, however, as there appears to be less money available to him now that the current international signing period – which began July 2 – is almost a half-year old.

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Oscar Colas

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