I wrote about the rumors a little over a week ago that had the Cincinnati Reds close to signing Cuban defector Raisel Iglesias (though everyone was spelling it Raciel at the time, but the Reds have it with an S and not a C, so that seems to be the correct version). Well today those rumors came to fruition as the Reds officially signed the right hander to a 7-year, worth between $27-30M depending on where you look and that includes a signing bonus. He also landed a spot on the 40-man roster, taking over the spot that was vacated by the DFA of Roger Bernadina.
The biggest news between last week and this week is that last week everyone assumed that Iglesias was a reliever. The Reds however think they he can be a starting pitcher moving forward, so it will be very interesting to see how they go about developing him once he gets his work visa issues settled. Having been a reliever for a while now, I imagine that he will spend the rest of the season in the minor leagues, stretching his arm out. Whether that is going to be in Pensacola or Louisville is more of the appropriate question. He is already 24-years-old, so Triple-A wouldn’t be something that should be out of his initial skill range.
For those that missed the post last week, here is the scouting report on Iglesias:
Scouting Report
Iglesias is a bit undersized, just 5? 11? an 165 lbs. at this point in time, but the stuff isn’t small at all. He works in the 92-95 MPH range with his fastball and throws a breaking ball in the mid 70?s to low 80?s. He is expected to be a reliever.
Given that he hasn’t pitched yet this year, I would expect him to begin in the minors, likely in Double-A or Triple-A to get his feet under him and go from there.
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