Scouting reports on recent Pirates' international signings
Pirates sign a pair of international pitchers
The Pittsburgh Pirates officially signed 24-year-old Cuban right-handed pitcher Yulian Quintana on Thursday. They also agreed to a deal with 16-year-old right-handed pitcher Juan Carlos Muniz Jr. Both deals were reported by Francys Romero.
Quintana is an advanced pitcher, whose best pitch is his power slider. He has an aggressive approach on the mound for attacking hitters, throwing a four-pitch mix that includes a fastball that gets up to 97 MPH. His slider and changeup are in the mid-80s, while he also adds in a slow curve.
The report by Romero said that he will go right to Double-A, but I was told that the approach with him won't be that aggressive. He agreed to his deal around the January 15th start of the signing period, but just officially signed on Thursday.
Quintana has pitched three seasons at the highest level in Cuba. He has put up a 4.99 ERA over 106.1 innings, with 60 strikeouts and a 1.77 WHIP. He has made strong progress outside of Cuba over the last two years.
Muniz also has the same four-pitch mix, though he's obviously a longer way away from the majors than Quintana. Muniz has been displaying a fastball that was sitting 87-90 MPH recently, though he has touched higher. He's done an excellent job already of missing barrels with the pitch. His curveball has shown some real depth and bite, but it can be a little inconsistent if he doesn't get on top of it. That pitch is 71-72 MPH. His changeup is 79-81 MPH with fading action. He has shown feel for a mid-70s slider. He's a strong kid for his age, with a durable 6'1", 185 frame and solid arm strength.
*Some exclusive video of Muniz
Quintana is a bit different due to his age, but the Pirates have been aggressive looking for pitchers in a similar mold as Muniz. Young arms that show a good athletic frame, good arm action and a feel for throwing strikes at an early age.
It's not necessarily guys who light up the radar gun now, though most are 16-18 year old and touching low 90s. There has also been an effort to get pitchers with fresh arms, so it includes a few who changed positions recently to the mound. They did a great job of identifying and signing those types of pitchers at the start of the January 15th signing period.
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Fantastic stuff here!