Braves excited about international free-agent class and the Ronald Acuña Jr. effect

When an Atlanta Braves scout goes to see a kid play in Venezuela, the cursive “A” and team logo are immediately recognized. Not just because Atlanta won the 2021 World Series but because Venezuela is the homeland of Ronald Acuña Jr., the Braves’ superstar right fielder.

“He does have a great impact on that, and I think it’s easier for Venezuelan players to identify themselves with us,” said Jonathan Cruz, the Braves’ director of Latin American scouting. “And because we understand the Venezuelan player so well, we’ve just had a better process here the last couple of years.

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“But, yeah, when it comes to negotiating with these kids, they see themselves as Braves because they love Acuña.”

For the second year in a row, the Braves’ top two international free-agent signings are Venezuelans, led by center-field prospect Luis Guanipa, who got a $2.5 million bonus Sunday, the first day of the international free-agent signing period.

Guanipa, 17, has drawn a lot of attention from Braves scouts since 2020 for his combination of strength and speed. He filled out and grew two inches, to 5-foot-11, during the time the Braves kept eyes on him. Guanipa bats and throws right-handed.

“He’s a pretty strong kid. In the U.S. they call them ‘country strong,’” Cruz said of Guanipa, who hails from the island of Margarita and once took with batting practice with Acuña, who is represented by the same agency. “(Guanipa) has a wide back and a strong lower half. I don’t think he’s done growing. He’s still young. But he doesn’t need to grow anymore with his kind of tool set.”

Another Venezuelan outfielder, Carlos Monteverde, got the Braves’ next largest bonus ($600,000), followed by Dominican outfielder Jhon Estévez ($300,000) and Venezuelan pitcher Jeremy Reyes ($240,000). Guanipa, Montverde and Reyes, a converted position player, are 17; Estévez is 16.

The Braves landed 21 players on the first day of the period and divvied up the remainder of their $5,284,000 bonus pool.

A year ago, the Braves signed 14 players on the first day of the signing period, giving Venezuelan shortstop Diego Benítez a $2.5 million bonus and signing Venezuelan outfielder Douglas Glod for $1.3 million.

Cruz has worked in the Braves organization since 2015 and has been in charge of Latin American scouting for the past two years, the first years since 2017 that the Braves have been free of penalties levied against them for malfeasance in international free agency under the front office regime of John Coppolella and John Hart.

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This year’s class of international signees has Cruz excited.

“More than previous classes, to be honest,” he said. “There’s a lot of hit-first guys, a lot of athletes. Frankly, we put in a lot of work on this group. And we’ve been able to align ourselves with the player development (department) to get the guys that they like to develop. So we’re excited with this class.”

Carlos Sequera, the Braves’ scouting supervisor in Venezuela, saw Guanipa play more than anyone in the organization. But Cruz estimated he also watched about 100 of the outfielder’s at-bats during his eight or so visits to see him, including on the island where Cruz is from.

Guanipa trained daily at the Margarita ballpark that’s home to a local professional team. “And he’s had a couple of days where he’s launched the ball outside of the entire stadium,” Cruz said.

By all accounts, the youngster has plenty of pop in his bat, with more expected as he gets older. Guanipa was rated 10th on Baseball America’s international free-agent prospects board, and Fangraphs had him tied for fifth for Future Value in its rankings of international free agents.

Cruz thinks he would’ve been ranked even higher if he’d been seen by more scouts. The Braves are probably glad he wasn’t, or else he might’ve been more expensive to sign.

“He’s a guy that not a lot of people got to see in Venezuela because of where he’s located,” said Cruz, adding that the Braves first saw Guanipa play late in 2019 and began to focus on him the following summer. “I think FanGraphs had him top five, but some had him outside their top 10.”

MLB Pipeline had Guanipa ranked 34th in its top 50, but it’s worth noting they also had him listed at 5-9.

“Yeah, he’s 5-11,” Cruz said. “When we first saw him he was around 5-9. He’s been growing.”

The Braves love Guanipa’s hit tool and also project him as a strong defensive center fielder.

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“He’s explosive with the lower half, he’s going to reach any ball in the outfield with ease,” Cruz said. “The arm has been getting better. I think at center field, it’s going to be average, a chance to be solid-average.”

The chance to wear the same uniform as Acuña, to be in the same organization, added to Guanipa’s excitement over a pro contract.

“He’s ecstatic,” Cruz said. “I think Acuña has a lot of impact on not just our players, but every player in Venezuela. He has that effect. I think he’s the face of Venezuelan baseball right now. Acuña sells.”

When the Braves send this class of signees to the Dominican Summer League to begin their pro careers, they’ll have Guanipa in center field and Monteverde in right.

“(Monteverde) is a center fielder, but we’re going to slot him in right field because Guanipa is on a whole different level — he’s going to be our center fielder (from this group),” Cruz said. “So what’ll happen is, when Guanipa is off, Monteverde will probably fill in at center field. But he’s going to start at right field, because he’s got plenty of arm and plenty of range to play the position.”

Monteverde, who bats and throws left-handed, is 6-1 and about 175 pounds.

“What we like with him is his approach — he’s not afraid to take the walk,” said Cruz, who called Monteverde a natural hitter with real power. “He grinds at-bats. … Carlos, no matter what type of pitch we send his way, he works his walk or he waits for his pitch.”

Cruz said the Braves began scouting Monteverde around the same time as Guanipa.

“We followed him for a long time because he participated in a lot of international tournaments,” he said. “He was actually the MVP of the biggest summer league in Venezuela, so he’s performed for a while.”

Cruz added, “He’s going to be a bat-first guy all the way, but we like the bat/power combination, and there’s a lot of untapped potential in his game that we’re really high on.”

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That likely leaves left field for Estévez in the Dominican Summer League.

“He’s 6-3, 190, and he’s purely bat-first,” Cruz said. “Similar to Monteverde, he’s a very patient hitter. (Estévez) is going to be more-walk-than-strikeout type of guy; he’s a hard out. He’s got some raw power, which we hope he’s going to convert into usable power with our development. We love the body, we love the upside, and we really love the plate discipline on him.

“He’s probably going to play left field — the arm is fringe, and everything else is average to above.”

After the three outfielders, the Braves’ next biggest bonus went to former outfielder Reyes, who turned 17 last week and only recently became a full-time pitcher.

“He had a really good arm from the outfield, and at third base he had an OK arm,” Cruz said of the positions the Braves saw Reyes play initially. “Then we put him on the mound, and he’s 93-96 (mph) already. He’s got a legitimate slider. Pitchers tend to move up faster because velo plays at any level.”

(Photo: Geoff Burke / USA Today)