The Phillies have signed a top international OF prospect, Yhoswar Garcia, whose nickname, “The Drone,” describes his “outstanding athleticism and speed.”
As the baseball world has been put on the hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Philadelphia Phillies are still working to sure up their roster for not only the 2020 season, but far beyond.
On Saturday, the organization signed international prospect CF Yhoswar Garcia, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler, who tweets the Venezuelan is “one of the top international prospects in the 2019-20 class” with “outstanding athleticism and speed.” His nickname, fittingly, is “The Drone.”
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“As is almost always the case, his progress will depend on his bat,” NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman writes. “He is listed at 6-foot-1, 155 pounds and will need to develop more strength to hit for power.”
MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez further describes Garcia as having an “arm and running ability to stay in center field as he develops.” He continues, “At the plate, he shows good instincts and is a gap hitter. He is expected to develop more power as he physically matures.”
Yhoswar Garcia signed his deal with the #Phillies last night. He is an athletic outfielder and a quality defender. At the plate, he shows good instincts, power and is expected to develop more strength as he physically matures. pic.twitter.com/uMnyRKEiPa
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) March 15, 2020
The Phillies had been interested in the 18-year-old, highly regarded defender for several years. They were expected to sign him last July when the international signing period opened, among the other top names of the 2019-20 international class, however he has only just recently become eligible. Garcia reportedly initially presented a birthdate that would make him a year younger than his actual age; that holdup has since been cleared, making him eligible to sign to a bonus reportedly worth between $2 and $2.5 million.
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With the signing official, Garcia will likely start out in the Phillies organization at its Latin American academy in the Dominican Republic, “though so much is currently up in the air with coronavirus shutting down every camp and every professional sport,” Seidman writes.
With the Phillies have no clear center fielder of the future, there surely is room for Garcia to develop into an everyday, All-Star-caliber player. Of course, that would at least be four-to-five years from now, when Bryce Harper is in his early 30s.