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When it comes to assessing amateur talent in Venezuela, the Atlanta Braves just have different circumstances.
“We’ve had an advantage with Venezuelans,” Jonathan Cruz, the Latin American scouting director for the Braves, acknowledged to reporters on Tuesday.
And why? Ronald Acuña Jr.
In Venezuela, Acuña, who joined Atlanta in July 2014, is revered as a legend. Indeed, it offers the Braves a leg up in talent scouting in that South American nation.
Are we going to call Acuña and ask him to come aid us with these guys? No. We don’t need to ask for assistance, though. All of these children aspire to be on the same pitch as him.”
And although Cruz acknowledged that the $5 million signing bonus might have played a greater role in Atlanta’s decision to acquire shortstop Jose Perdomo, a top international prospect, Perdomo’s acquisition was not the sole outcome.
“International free agents are something that Braves general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is quite excited about. In addition, Early on in the process, other teams were involved, but Alex will get the best player when he wants him. He was a huge source of support for us. We were able to find our man because of his active involvement.”
As much as one can be comfortable about a player at this point in their career, Atlanta is pleased with Perdomo’s potential.
Cruz remarked, “Obviously these kids are very young,” before going into detail about what they saw from the standpoint of scouting. We believe hitting is the hardest skill to teach, assuming it can be taught at all. And that’s what makes him unique.”
At the age of twelve, Perdomo participated in domestic minor baseball showcases in the United States, which allowed Atlanta to scout him early.
“He went to a Perfect Game (showcase), which was good, but he had a big showcase side by side with Ethan Salas.”
Salas, the San Diego Padres’ prized acquisition from the previous campaign, rose through the minor league ranks with incredible speed this year. Salas was in major league spring training, so he skipped the Dominican Summer League entirely, where most international prospects spend their first season with their organisation. He started the season with Single-A Lake Elsinore, turned seventeen in June, and was then promoted to High-A Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio to wrap it up.
However, some baseball fans believed the Padres pushed Salas too soon, citing his hitting averages of.200 in Ft. Wayne and.179 in San Antonio. Cruz doesn’t see Perdomo playing in that situation, which speaks to both his innate talent and the way Atlanta develops its international prospects.
“Considering his age, the floor on his bat is really elevated. When he hits, he gives off an air of confidence. We have a tonne of evidence where we consistently attempted to outmatch the child, and he demonstrated an ability to adjust and prevail that we haven’t seen in a while.”
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