CUBAN HECTOR OLIVERA WORKED OUT & EVERYONE WAS THERE

This is a report that I found interesting. First of all, as you know the Yankees are allegedly "all in" on 19 year old Cuban, Yoan Moncada. You can read about that in THE YOAN MONCADA SWEEPSTAKES HEAT UP and in THE YANKEES "IN HARD" ON CUBAN YOAN MONCADA.

But the other Cuban player the Yankees are looking at is 29 year old Hector Olivera.  According to reports, they were in attendance for a Olivera workout. In fact, everyone was... Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com:

More than 200 scouts attended workout for Hector Olivera last week in DR. SFG, SD, TX, ATL, NYY among teams showing strong interest. #Cuba
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) January 24, 2015

OK then.

DJ Short of Hardball Talk gives a nice breakdown of Olivera:

"Olivera has long been considered one of the best players in Cuba. In fact, Baseball America ranked him as the No. 6 player in Cuba last August, but he carries some questions due to his age and injury history. He missed the entire 2012-13 season due to thrombosis in his left biceps and hasn’t played in any international competition since. 

However, he batted .316/.412/.474 with seven home runs over 273 plate appearances in his return to Serie Nacional last season while amassing more walks (38) than strikeouts (25), so he can still get it done with the bat. It’s worth noting that he spent a lot of his time at DH, so he might have to prove that he can stick at second base stateside."

We'll have to see what happens next. Stay tuned...




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