|
LUIS HEREDIA
|
RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
|
 |
Born: August 16, 1994 Height: 6′ 7″ Weight: 220 Bats: Right Throws: Right Signed: Int. FA, Pittsburgh Pirates, 2010 How Acquired: Int. FA Agent: N/A |
WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES |
| Heredia became the Pirates’ first foray into the world of expensive international free agent signings when they inked him to a contract calling for a $2.6M bonus. The circumstances were unusual. Heredia signed with a Mexican team, Veracruz, before his 16th birthday. According to reporting by Dejan Kovacevic, then of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates’ Latin American scouting director, Rene Gayo, had been following Heredia for years and steered him to Veracruz, a team with which they have ties. Under the rules that apply in Mexico, the Pirates’ deal was actually with Veracruz, which received three-quarters of Heredia’s bonus. If you don’t count former GM Dave Littlefield’s PR stunt with Yoslan Herrera, the bonus was more than six times the largest the Pirates had ever paid for a Latin American amateur player, that being the $400K they paid to Exicardo Cayonez. They signed him about a week after his 16th birthday, despite interest from a number of other teams, including the Yankees.
According to Baseball America, Heredia was the top pitching prospect available on the international market. Despite having just turned 16, he was sitting at 92 in a game shortly before the draft, as reported by Kovacevic. He throws several fastballs with different action, and has good life and command. He also throws a slider, curve and change. The latter two could turn into plus pitches, but he undoubtedly will need to work on all his offspeed stuff. At such a young age, Heredia has a good chance ultimately of throwing significantly harder. It’s very rare to find a 16-year-old who throws 92 mph. 2011 Heredia pitched in the GCL rotation, although the Pirates monitored his workload carefully and he generally pitched 2-3 innings. Most of the time he was hard to hit, but he had some control meltdowns, which isn’t exactly surprising for a guy who pitched all but his last three games at age 16. He finished with only a few more strikeouts than walks. There were reports both from extended spring training and from early in the GCL season that he was throwing in the mid-90s, but his fastball eventually sat in the low 90s. Of course, that’s outstanding velocity given his age. His offspeed stuff was inconsistent. Baseball America ranked him the 3rd best prospect in the GCL. 2012 Heredia spent the season in the rotation at State College. Apart from a low K rate, he pitched very well and Baseball America ranked him as the league’s second best prospect. A lot of his focus was keeping his fastball down in the zone and he succeeded in that, allowing only two HRs and producing a high groundball rate. Considering his age, the focus on fastball command, and the fact that his breaking pitches are still developing, the low K rate probably shouldn’t be a concern at this point. The Pirates will hold Heredia back in extended spring training at the beginning of the season in order to keep his innings count down. In fact, he didn’t even start throwing off a mound until near the end of spring training. He should join the West Virginia rotation about a month into the season. |
|
STATS
|
| Baseball Reference–Minors Fangraphs MiLB.com |
|
CONTRACT INFORMATION
|
| 2013: Minor League Contract |
|
PLAYER INFORMATION
|
| Signing Bonus: $2,600,000 MiLB Debut: 2011 MLB Debut: N/A MiLB FA Eligible: 2017 MLB FA Eligible: N/A Rule 5 Eligible: 2014 Added to 40-Man: N/A Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
|
TRANSACTIONS
|
| August 19, 2010: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an international free agent with a $2,600,000 bonus. |
