A few weeks ago, you said the next two international classes where going to be some of the best recently on both depth and top end talent. I assumed it wasn’t going to rival the 2017 class with Valera, Bracho, Rocchio, Tena, Noel and anyone else I missed.
But, if you got time, how do you see Chourio, Izturis and Francisco potential compared to this epic group? And, any others from that 2017 class that still may surprise ... know you like Paz from 2018 class but anyone like Micael Ramirez (a bit old I know) that just broke out in Arizona this past year?
Thanks
To me this cycle and the next cycle are all about 5 guys.
Chourio, Izturis, and Pedro Hernandez Jr this year.
Francisca and Luis Yerlin in 23.
Francisca, in a lot of peoples minds, is the most talented international kid they've signed to date. He is growing into 5 loud tools, still just 15 too. Ridiculous how good he is at that age.
Chourio and Yerlin are both switch hitting OFers with projectable size and tools. Chourio 100% has enough juice to stick in CF and he isn't done growing yet (already 6'2 as a 16 year old) and is the more projectable guy of the 2, while Yerlin is an advanced hitter already projecting to be a corner guy.
Izturis was born to play baseball in his family, very smart and heady kid, bilingual which is unusual for an international prospect who never lived in the US (can thank his uncles for that) and I have already talked about how important that is for a catcher in todays game. He doesn't have a lot of growth projection left, but he can play.
And Hernandez is a big switch hitting middle infielder with raw tools all over the place, but it is easy to see the power potential and projection into a corner IF bat. Loud hit tool.
They have 2 kids who can hit already with high ceilings, 2 kids growing into their bodies with high ceilings, and a very high floor C prospect, which are hard to come by these days.