Scout's Eye View of Mauricio Pierre
Lukas and Tom introduce us to another exciting part of the 2020 J2 class
Today we come to our final guest post from Lukas McKnight and Tom Shafer, who run the baseball site PeloteroIntl.com (“pelotero” is the Spanish word for “ballplayer”). Together, Lukas and Tom have over 40 years of major league experience — most of that coming from the scouting perspective. Tom Shafer spent over 20 years scouting for the Cubs, Reds, Astros and Mariners, focussing on the international market. Lukas McKnight spent his entire 20+ year career with the Cubs, starting as a minor league player before moving into scouting and front office work. He’s currently the Director of Baseball for Visual Edge, an industry leader in visual evaluation and training for high-level athletes.
One of the reasons I was initially so excited when Lukas and Tom approached me about this project, was the opportunity they brought to really diversify our/my understanding of the international market. The three posts that Lukas and Tom have put together for There R Giants have given us views of players signing at distinctly different price points. Marco Luciano and Diego Velasquez were both the Giants’ top signings in their international classes, with Luciano getting one of the top figures overall in his year. But there are many pleasures to be found lower down in the international market (Ronald Acuña Jr. was a $100k signing, for instance), which brings us to a player like today’s subject, Mauricio Pierre. In addition, while our first two subjects came from the two primary countries of origin in the international market, today’s subject comes from a baseball country just slightly off the beaten path.
I hope that you all have found this guest post series as fascinating as I have, and I hope you’ll all head over to PeloteroIntl.com and give Lukas and Tom a big thanks for the added content! Take it away, guys!
The 30+ players of the Giants’ 2020 international signing class was heavily populated by players from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. If you’re at all familiar with international amateur baseball and the J2 signings (and if you’re here reading this, chances are you are), this isn’t just true of the Giants this year — it’s true of every team every year.
However, one name and country that stands out amongst Giants signees is outfielder Mauricio Pierre of Panama, who signed for a $490k bonus. Pierre is just one of four players total in the Giants’ 2020 class NOT from either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. This isn’t the first time that Joe Salermo and the Giants international staff have fished in Panamanian waters, either, having signed catcher Adrian Sugastey out of Panama for $525k in 2019.
Panama is a narrow bridge of land that connects North America to South America. Its population is just over 4 million, and baseball is the national sport. With a modern architectural skyline, Panama City and its surrounding metro area make up nearly half of the country’s total population. The country has a rich professional baseball history with a total of sixty-five Panamanian-born players appearing in at least one MLB game, and two of its native sons having been inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame — Rod Carew and Mariano Rivera.
Geographically, Panama lies in the center of a swath of Latin American baseball-playing countries. Panama-based Major League scouts are well-positioned geographically to scout local players while also having easy access to Venezuela, Columbia, Aruba, Curacao, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Over the last five years, Major League organizations have increased their willingness to invest significantly in acquiring young, Panamanian talent. Subsequently, the added competition to sign players has increased bonus amounts.
Here are a some notable signings from Panama in recent seasons:
2018 - Eduardo Vaughn, $550K Boston
2019 - Reginald Preciado, $1.3M San Diego Padres
2020 - Leonardo Bernal, $680K St. Louis Cardinals
On to the player himself: Mauricio Pierre’s 60 times are reported at 6.8-6.9 (which translates to a 50 or 55 run grade, though we'd peg him a 60 in the future) and his home-to-first time at 4.30-4.40 (teams are using the home to 1st time less these days, since different swings get out of the box quicker than others, but 4.3-4.4 would be a 45-50 on the scouting scale). His arm strength is currently average to solid average, and with no hitches in his throwing stroke, it’s likely to settle in as a 60-65 tool with strength gains and maturity. Defensively, nothing physically holds Pierre back from playing centerfield. The 6’2”, 165 pound Pierre is rangy, has long running strides, and his breaks on balls hit to the gaps are strengthened by both his first-step quickness and closing speed. Unlike stronger players closer to their physical peaks, he’s apt to get a step quicker with increased leg strength.
At the plate, he has a loose swing and uses his hands well to produce consistent, solid, line-drive contact. His bat path is more geared for an inside out, up the middle approach (where many young players are pull oriented), that makes it much easier for young hitters to adapt to better pitching as they climb the minor league ladder. Already a good fastball hitter, he will need to work on recognizing and tracking breaking balls as part of his development (which is true of most 16-year-old hitters). He hasn’t been tested as regularly against higher-level pitching, and given the rest of his tools, he might have demanded a higher bonus if he’d been able to answer more questions about his pure hit tool. In describing Pierre’s potential, Joe Salermo, Giants Director of International Scouting, had this to say:
“Upside is the name of the game for this guy. He ends up having average to solid-average tools across the board if everything clicks. With him, the rewards outweigh the risk. He’s very mature mentally for his age as well. He represented Panama in international tournaments and we liked the way he competed. This was against the best teams such as Team USA, Cuba, and Venezuela.”
All indications are that Pierre is a hard worker with tremendous makeup. He has received much support from his family in pursuing his dream of making it to the Major Leagues. They reside in the town of Chame, which is about a 90-minute drive south of Panama City, though they hope to eventually travel to the States in order to see Mauricio play in the minor leagues.
The athleticism and tools give Pierre the upside of an everyday player, though there’s more risk to him than some other higher-priced J2 signings. Still, an organization can never go wrong signing athletes like this with strong makeup and character.