Brazilian 17 years old RHP 94mph - Rookie

Your English is perfectly fine with me.

I'm afraid that I hadn't seen any such news, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

Two sites that do a really good job of gathering all the news in Pro Yakyu are Garland-guru's Today's News column (and archives) and Borisov-san's Russian League Baseball (don't let the name fool you - it's a collection of English press releases about Japanese baseball).

Wish I could have been of more help.

Yes, the Hawks did sign Anderson Gomez dos Santos to a contract, though given his age and the fact that I haven't seen any mention of him having a breaking pitch
(just a fastball and a changeup), I believe that it will be 2-3 years before he will be a viable candidate for time with the big club. The Yankees were reportedly interested in dos Santos, which is why he was able to command about $700,000 to sign him (that includes his signing bonus and two year salary, iirc).

Also, the Yakult Swallows have a Brazilian of Japanese parentage down on the farm right now named Tsugio Sato. They had two other players from Brazil, but I think they've been released. Sato had a very good spring training and you could see him up when
rosters expand in September.

And if you ever get to Japan, I understand that Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture has a good size Brazilian community.

Mr Garland,

Thanks for replying my original message.

Do you know the value of his signing bonus? I believe this value is a Brazilian record. Was the reported interest of the NY Yankees was published in any media? Please, elucidate it to me.

The guy has many others skills, but, among a lot of American and Japanese top prospects he shall produce a real impact with his fenomenal fastball.

My best regards,

Andr

The amount of his signing bonus wasn't specified, but it probably took up most of the money he will end up receiving. If I had to guess, I would think the bonus was in the $500,000 range since most new Japanese players make less than $100,000 a year (in fact, it's not uncommon for them to make as little as $50,000).

I was curious because I saw this young man pitch in Miami, in a try out, and I thought he was going to sign with the Yankees. Based on your response, he seems to have received less than the Yankees where offering. Could you check up to see what the bottom line is on this?

Hello Mr. Roman,

This guy is really a power hurler, don't you think?? Could you tell me your final impression about his performance? (as a scout, could I say?).

The contract with the Daiei Hawks seems to need a little more discussion and new terms. I'll wait a few days to comment on this obscure affair. The Yankees really lost a great prospect!

I have to say I was surprised he took the Daiei offer since, according to the Japanese press, he had been offered $1.5 million by the Yankees. Two things could be at work here: one, he is from a town with a Japanese-American community, so there may be some comfort factor involved; Two, if he develops rapidly, he has a chance of getting into the mediocre Hawks' rotation sooner than he would in MLB (where he is at least four years, maybe more, away from being Major League ready, especially since he not only apparently has to develop a breaking ball, but to both get some command with it and to just grow up as a human being.

Also, if he washes out with Daiei, he will still be young enough to draw some MLB interest (think Alfonso Soriano) since it's only a two year deal.

As far as his velocity, according to the Japanese press, he was throwing in the high 80's in the workouts for the Hawks, but the scouts liked his arm slot and arm speed a lot.

One thing you have to be careful of as far as the velocity of a youngster is that they can often pop off on occasion some good velocity, but doing it consistently is another animal altogether. Look at Hayato Terahara. Three MLB teams wanted him when he hit 98mph on the radar gun at the Koshien Tournament, but he's only hit 92mph at best with Daiei and has often been clocked in the mid to high 80's. So we'll see how Anderson works out. I'm rooting for him.

Mr Garland,
I heard the young guy worked one inning of scoreless relief in his first two outings in the hawks' farm. Did you read any comment about his performance?
Tks