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Has anyone else been paying attention to this guy. 17 y.o. signee out of Cuba ($300k bonus). Now hitting .421 with a ,511 OBP and a 1.261 OPS. Low k rate and has twice as many xbh+bb as strikeouts.
I wonder if they would move him up to the GCL or the appy league to.finish the year. Top prospects Guerrero Jr and Tatis Jr both played their 17 y.o. seasons in the appy league. Rays #5 prospect Franco starred his career this year as a 17 y.o. in the appy league and I believe is leading the league in hitting. In other words, a 17 y.o. playing stateside is far from unprecedented.
In general, I think the Cardinals are too slow to promote DSL players.
I mean Cordoba won what, 3 batting titles and had to repeat two levels? And never got above A ball before becoming Rule 5 eligible? What else do you have to do to get promoted?
I agree with that 2016 and have said so many times. It theoretically will get worse now that there are 2 DSL teams and only the same number of spots in the US.
He got kind of a late start even for the DSL as a J2 signee, right? He’s definitely hitting very well but that might explain why he’s delayed. I’d like to see him challenged stateside to see where he’s at, but that stat line is dominating.
You may not like my guess at an answer, but they like to pre-identify guys almost ready for the US and bring them over for instructs and extended spring training to get them familiar with what is involved here in the States. It is more than baseball readiness.
Specifically, Nunez is doing great, but it is just 20 career games, so it is not like he is dying on the vine.
In a different vein, someone asked me yesterday about Gorman (29 games to date) being promoted now and I said I would not do it. I would keep him where he is, let him go through first year ups and downs. He will compete for Peoria next year either way. 19 in the MWL would be the same as Montero now.
Yes, Perez played in the GCL at 17. Carlson also I believe. But then there was no lower rung for the Cards to put them either. I agree that Gorman is where he needs to be. However, if he were totally dominant like Nunez has been I would probably feel differently.
IN the words of Smokie, Nunez, Nunez, who the hell is Malcolm Nunez? He has video game numbers? Bring him to the states , pronto. That league to him is apparently child’s play. 2 homers, 8 rbis today.
BA had a paragraph about him under their “helium watch” section this week. Gorman has mention in the same article. Scroll towards the bottom to get to the Nuñez mention.
Nunez hit HR #7 today. You know you are doing well when you go 1 for 3 and 2 for 5 in a DH and your average goes down.
Nolan Gorman is # 1 with a bullet and I’d rank him # 2 right now, but what about Malcom Nunez? That’s sustained production from this phenom. Not only will he be state-side next season, but he causes a dilemma; where to start him? Is the GLC too low even though that is where the integration program starts? Can they, would they, dare put him all the way up to full season Peoria? Just how good is this Cuban boy wonder. Anyone seen a scouting report? I’m willing to put him into the top 30 prospects for us even though we know, quite frankly, squat about him. But make no mistake, Malcom Nunez has introduced himself with both guns a blazing to us prospect geeks and its exciting!
Great post Wiley! Luis Morales will keep these young talents a coming. Who was it that once had the mantra “You gotta believe”???? I think it may have been that upstart Phillies squad from the early 80’s…..anyway, we Redbird fans “gotta believe” in Luis Morales!
I will forever remind people that I was the first to start a Nunez thread on this board. This kid is amazing!
Well, he was the top international signing this year, so it’s not like he was a complete unknown prior to your creating a Nunez thread. I know your post was in jest and you should get credit for opening a discussion.
Nunoz = TCN’s #38. I would guess that he’ll climb in the post season ranking. I think he’ll add a couple of inches to his 17 yo. 5’11” frame to fit the 3B stature requirement.
The decision about his landing spot will be made after more of an analysis of his talents is assessed at extended spring training in ’19. EST should provide more of a challenge for him.
Yeah, about that 5′ 11″ frame of his.
On the day the Cards signed him, Nunez was advertised at 6′ 1″ and somewhere between 190 and 200 pounds. This from Derrick Goold’s article:
“A strapping righthanded hitter, Nunez stood out above others in his age group because of a 6-foot-1 frame and a weight between 190 pounds and 200 pounds. In Cuba’s 15-and-under league, Nunez had an absurd 46 walks and only 9 strikeouts in 152 plate appearances.”
Entire article here: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/birdland/cardinals-headline-international-signings-with-lauded-cuban-slugger/article_23ccaaaa-7ebd-5905-8d17-7082b0e0aa1c.html
And this, from Jen Langosch/Jesse Sanchez at MLB.com:
“Standing at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, Nunez, 17, has a strong body and is physically mature. He has exhibited strength in his swing and displays projectable hitting ability and power. Overall, he’s known for his plate discipline and offensive instincts.”
Complete article: https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/news/cardinals-to-sign-malcom-nunez-of-cuba/c-283509766
Best that I can figure is someone told Nunez that people tend to shrink in their seventies. He misunderstood, and thought he was supposed to shrink at age seventeen.
This isn’t a mystery. The kid is 17 and likely still growing. He played in Cuba when he was even younger and the sites that have been following him for years like BA had him at 5-11 (and still do today). He most likely was at that time, whenever it was.
Because the Cards have so little international money per player, they did not bother with a press release for their July 2nd signings, so I used BA’s bio info here. Since none of the media have traveled to the Dominican to see Nunez, Derrick and Jen probably got info from the Cards informally.
My take is that since the organization’s own official website (MiLB.com) still has him at 5-11, I will not change it to 6-1 or anything else until I get something from the Cardinals myself or I see him myself and ask, whichever comes first.
I have Nunez needing 187 plate appearances to qualify for the batting lead. He has 186. I believe he will need 198 total for the season so he needs 12 more in the last 4 games. He should do that easily unless injured.
I may have miscalculated in that it appears the DSL Blue team only has 3 games left meaning the total plate appearances Nunez will need is 195 meaning he needs 9 more over the next 3 games.
With his homer today, Nunez has more or less clinched the DSL Triple Crown, despite missing nearly 40% of the season due to his not signing until July. He is the first DSL batter in at least 13 years to hit .400, and also the first to slug at least .650. (But he isn’t going to slug .650, or .670, or .700, or .730. In fact he’s going to comfortably slug over .750.)
Today’s was the 5th homer for Nunez in his last 6 games, and 9th in 17 games, versus just 10 strikeouts. Over those 17 games he hit ~.400/.500/.900.
Finally, at Malcom Nunez’ MILB.com web page there are 27 different batting splits. Malcom’s worst split is his first inning line of .385/.442/.641 with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts.
Thanks for starting this thread, CC. Nunez is the second most impressive 17-year-old on the planet, and deserves much attention (and scrutiny).
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