Yesterday we discussed how the Yankees got one of the best underappreciated talents in this years IFA class in Hans Montero. Today we discuss another top talent the Yankees were able to get in outfielder Fidel Montero. And no, they are not related.
Who is Fidel Montero (OF)?
As a preface again to clarify, Fidel Montero has no relation to shortstop Hans Montero who we discussed about yesterday. As a lower ranked prospect, Fidel has no scouting report on Baseball America, although he (along with Hans) are the two Yankees IFA prospects that did get official Baseball America stats pages, which you can find here.
Unfortunately, at this time we have no clear record about his price/signing bonus that the Yankees gave to him. However, there is enough information out there to cobble up another “scouting of a scouting report” on a highly under-scouted player. (Sources to follow)
Before the third weekend of 2021, on January 15th, 2021 the latest International Free Agent class and signing period officially opened up. Originally delayed from July 2nd, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, this signing period will go until December 15th, 2021. While this did provide teams more time to evaluate talent, many had already agreed to deals in principle and last Friday marked when they could officially sign with a Major League Organization. The Yankees marked the occasion with signing 4 talents, including outfielder Fidel Montero for an undisclosed signing bonus. Montero stands in between 6’0” and 6’1” and weighs between 160 and 185 pounds. Originally listed as a shortstop, Montero has been playing outfield for the past few seasons and made himself a prospect to notice. A right-handed hitter and thrower, Montero had participated in a 2019 showcase outside of Chicago with 50 young talents of the Dominican Republic across multiple international free agent classes. He also had a breakout season in the 2019 Dominican Prospect League as a 15 year-old. This helped earn him high praises including from the Panini baseball card company where they said he was, “One of the most complete talents on the international stage…” and he is “…now poised for a shimmering future at the sport’s highest level.” However, Ben Badler of BaseballAmerica also had this to say about the budding outfielder, “[Montero has] impressive raw tools who shows up-and-down game performance.” He continued to say that this inconsistency is one of the problems that had led to a lower prospect stock and is something a signing team will have to fix.
Sources: MSN News (with SB Nation), Panini Baseball, MLB.com, and Baseball America
Article By: Ethan Semendinger
Date Published: January 19th, 2021
