With the recent signing of shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias, the Sox now have four shortstops among their top 20 prospects.
Soxprospects.com rates the 19 year-old Cuban defector as the 14th best prospect in the organization and second-best prospect behind #12 Yamaico Navarro, third-best if you include Casey Kelly.
The 5-11, 175 pound infielder rates very well with the glove, with at least one scout grading it an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale, according to Kiley McDaniel of Baseball Prospectus. His arm rates as a plus, as does his range, though his speed is of debate to some scouts.
Iglesias’ detractors point to his underdeveloped bat, particularly his power potential, as he failed to hit a single home run in 314 at-bats in Cuba in 2008.
Despite the questionable bat, Iglesias’ stellar glove should carry him to the major leagues where he could be a quality regular. With comparisons to a ” ‘Ryan Theriot with better hands’ “, Iglesias sure does have a bright future and could become the Sox starting shortstop in the future.
Iglesias is signed for four seasons at a total of $8.2 million.
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i thought you were going to tell me something new about the guy.
So as an international free agent, this guy is not subject to any of the service time stuff, right?
Wrong, everything is the same as any other player except that a signing team gets one additional year that they can keep him in the minors. When his contract expires, assuming he is in the majors, he will be in the exact bargaining position as any other player with equal service time.