Arodys Vizcaino came into pro ball as a Yankees J2 signing in 2007 out of the Dominican Republic. Nobody seems to have his signing bonus listed anywhere, so let's assume it was a pittance. He went straight to the Gulf Coast League in 2008 and began moving up the prospect ranks, finishing the 2009 season as the Yankees' third best …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Justin Grimm
Continuing with the trend of pieces acquired via the Texas Rangers, today I'll look at Justin Grimm. Taken in the 5th round of the 2010 draft after a successful college career at the Univeristy of Georgia, Justin debuted at Class A and pitched the majority of the season at A+ ball (in 2011). It didn't take him long to break …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Zack Godley
RHP Zack Godley came to the Cubs as their tenth round pick in this year's Rule 4 draft. A senior out of Tennessee, Godley entered the draft coming off a 2013 season that saw him strike out 98 batters in in 108.1 innings and toss 6 complete games, posting a 3.49 ERA on the year. His signing was pretty drama-free, announced …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Duane Underwood
Duane Underwood stands 6-2 and weighs 205 pounds and unless you're blind, you can see he's a right-handed pitcher. He was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2012 Draft (67th overall). He was rated by Baseball America as the 104th ranked draft prospect and was the Cubs fourth pick behind Albert Almora, Pierce Johnson and Paul Blackburn. He signed …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Dillon Maples
Dillon Maples was a highly thought of right-handed high school pitcher who was rated 46th among Baseball America's top 200 draft prospects in 2011. He had a strong committment to North Carolina and dropped to the 14th round where the Cubs picked him up. In order to get him to sign, the Cubs gave him $2.5 million signing bonus, which …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: CJ Edwards (UPDATE)
When the Cubs traded Matt Garza, most of the inches on the deal surrounded Mike Olt, who had been linked to the Cubs for quite some time. Olt was an intriguing prospect on the way down…but he's not the focus of this article. C.J. Edwards was the real gem of the deal. In 3 years, when people think of Olt …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Armando Rivero
It's hard to get excited about middle relief prospects. I know that I certainly poked my share of fun at the Rivero signing when it was made. He got $3.1 million, and Brett had this to say: While he may prove a valuable piece of the bullpen in future years, this is simply about accumulating talented pitching, and paying handsomely to …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Brett Jackson
Brett Jackson came to the Cubs as the 31st overall pick out of UC Berkeley, selected in the first round of the 2009 draft for a $972,000 signing bonus. Jackson came on quickly in pro ball, powering through the AZL, the Northwest League, and the Midwest League before the 2009 season ended and began 2010 with Daytona in the FSL. …
2013 Cubs Prospects Review: Ben Wells
As you can see in the image at the right, Ben Wells is a big right-handed pitcher. The Cubs drafted Wells in the 7th round in the 2010 Draft. Wells stands 6-3 and weighs 220 pounds. Wells was more highly thought of that your typical 7th rounder and signed for $530,000, which was the equivalent of late 2nd round money …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Shawon Dunston, Jr.
Shawon Dunston, Jr. came to the Cubs as part of the 2011 draft spending spree, shelling out $1.275 million to pry the 11th round legacy pick away from a commitment to Vanderbilt University. Scouting reports at the time universally praised his athleticism as an outfielder but were also fairly unanimous that he was quite raw, and the fact that the …