News: Pittsburgh Pirates Signing International Prospect Wilber Dotel

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been actively shopping on the international free agent market.  Apparently, they have added another pitching prospect.

One area that the Pittsburgh Pirates have really seen a drop off is the talent they develop from the international ranks.  About 15 years ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a major change to their international scouting by hiring Rene Gayo to be in charge of the department.  Gayo instantly had success, especially with some off the radar signings like Starling Marte and eventually Gregory Polanco.

However, that did not last.  Gayo remained in charge much longer than he should have and eventually got himself relieved from his job.  It came out that Gayo was working on back door deals with trainers and prospects.  The scout would convince the Bucs to sign a player or pay a little more for a player and then make a little extra money for helping the trainer and prospect out.  Obviously, this was a big detriment to the Pittsburgh Pirates and their international development.

Gayo was removed from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and was replaced by Junior Vizcaino.  One could immediately see a difference, the Bucs have been more aggressive on the international market and actually have pursued some of the top names.  Just this past year the team signed one of the top pitching prospects of the 2019-2020 class in Cristopher Cruz.

Since Ben Cherington has taken over, the team has seemed to be even more aggressive.  Cherington has made several trades over the last year to bring in additional international cap space.  He has quickly turned that money around to bring in prospects they have their eyes on.  This included last week when they signed another one of the top pitching prospect, Taiwan native Po-Yu Chen.  Apparently, they have signed another intriguing pitching prospect:

John Dreker of Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Network has reported that the Bucs have signed 18 year old pitcher Wilber Dotel.  Dotel is the Bucs 49th player to sign during this class.  Dotel has the projection to be a starter, as Dreker notes:

"Dotel is 6’3″, 178 pounds with a frame to add weight. He has been training at the Marmolejos Baseball Academy. His fastball has recently reached 95 MPH. He also throws a 74-78 MPH curve and  and a 78-81 MPH changeup. He projects as a future starter and shows a good feel for pitching. He just turned 18 two weeks ago."

This signing very much reminds me of when teams draft players who are called “late risers.”  Every year there are a handful of prospects who develop in their senior year of high school and move up draft boards.  In fact, Ke’Bryan Hayes was one of these players.  Dotel obviously has a long way to go to establish himself as a legit prospect, but obviously he has made significant strides since the period opened last July.

The 2019-2020 July 2nd deadline ends on October 15th.  The 2020-2021 opens in January.