Yoan Lopez, the young Cuban fireballer who was on the radar of several clubs, has signed a deal with the Diamondbacks. The number of years is not enclosed yet and the deal is pending a physical.
According to a source, Lopez turned down a $9 million offer because he thought that Arizona would be a better fit.
Lopez has a phenominal arsenal of pitches with a cut fastball, a changeup, a curveball and a slider, but he best pitch is a fastball in the 93-95 mph range. He played three seasons in Cuba for Isla de la Juventud in Serie Nacional. Lopez sported a 3.12 ERA with 28 strikeouts and 11 walks in 49 innings in his final season.
Like I wrote before, he is a fireballer, and haven’t we seen many pitchers like him go down like flies the past season? Several hard throwing pitchers ended up on the DL with Tommy John surgery.
Diamondbacks General Manager and former pitcher Dave Stewart says that he likes what Lopez has shown so far. And when you look to the following quote, it may be a very nice season for the Diamondbacks’ AA affiliate in Mobile AL:
“I like what I saw and we’re going to give him an opportunity to compete for a spot this spring,” Stewart said. “All of our prospect pitchers will more than likely start at Double-A. That’s more than likely. I don’t know that to be a fact at this point, and if that’s the case and if he does not make our team out of Spring Training, we’ll send him wherever our prospects are and have them all come along together.”
I am pretty sure that the Diamondbacks will invite Lopez to their MLB Spring Training camp; it is a good way to lure more fans to their Spring Training games.
Maybe $8.27 isn’t much in today’s baseball, but I still think it is an awefull lot of money for a player that has not proven a thing at MLB level. Just my two cents.
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