Melissa Segura is reporting that the Yankees have come to terms with 19 year old Dominican righty Jose Rafael DePaula on a deal with a bonus of $700,000. You may recall that DePaula was suspended from signing last year due to age fraud issues, as he was suggesting that he was 17 when he was almost 19. Segura notes that DePaula throws 97 and likely would have attracted more interest if not for the age scandal last offseason. $700,000 is a fairly high offer for the Yankees to make to an IFA righty pitcher, and I wonder whether they will be relatively aggressive with him due to his being almost 20.
Courtesy of Blake Bentley, here is some video:
Rafael DePaula from Blake Bentley on Vimeo.
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6 Responses to Yankees Sign Rafael DePaula
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I’ve only read one or scouting reports on this kid does anyone have full details on his repertoire? I had read he was sitting 91-93 on the fastball and could touch 95 but seeing 97 as a possible high mark is very interesting since he could be sitting at 93-95, however I haven’t seen anything on any other offerings he may have.
This news probably broke the “Around the Minors” section of Nyyfans.
Great to see the Yanks adding another power arm into the system. We’ve been hearing good things about DePaula for a while, and no matter the age, he can throw some gas.
This might be the best $700K spent on an amateur this whole year. I’m not “down” on this year’s class, just cautiously optimistic. DePaula’s fallen off the radar, but he must’ve impressed the scouts in his workouts. In recent seasons the Yanks haven’t dished out big money to Dominican players. This exception made for DePaula has gotta be understood as the Yanks going “all-out.”
Hopefully DePaula pitches with a fire in his belly. I can imagine he’ll spend a fair amount of time in EST (tampa) before getting assigned to SI. He’s 19 … no point in keeping him in the DSL for any time. I’d love to see DePaula hit Charleston in 2011, but he probably wont be ready.
I agree, and given his age he could be a fast mover. The stuff is there, now lets see how he fares against advanced competition.
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