Top Prospects #18: Cheslor Cuthbert

#18 Cheslor Cuthbert

Age: 16
B/T: R/R
Pos: 3B
ETA: 2016

Cheslor Cuthbert was signed in July for a then club record bonus of $1.4 mill. Cuthbert was considered a major victory for the Royals scouting department considered he was "groomed" by Pittsburgh Pirate personnel even as the international signing period began many in baseball believed he was a lock to sign on with the Pirates organization. However, the Royals swooped in and lured him away with dollar signs.

Cuthbert hails from the baseball factory known as Nicaragua. Wait... Let me try again. Cuthbert hails from  Nicaragua, a nation that currently boasts one Major League hitter (shortstop Everth Cabrerra). For some reason though this excites me. It makes me feel as though the Royals aren't just mining the typical talent mines of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, but that they are also willing to explore new frontiers.

According to some Cuthbert is the best prospect ever to come from Nicaragua, and his bat speed is incredible for a player of his age. Scouts vary in opinion on his defense and some believe that he will have to move to an outfield corner, however J.J. Picollo has stated that the Royals project Cuthbert to be a third baseman and compares him to Adrian Beltre. I'll go ahead and say that if his glove is anywhere close to Beltre's then third base is the place he should be, because Beltre is one of the best fielding third basemen of all time.

Complain all you want about the major league decisions of Dayton Moore, but ultimately his tenure will be defined by the players that he developed and right now he and the rest of the Royals organization are putting just as much work and money into the farm system as any team in baseball. Hopefully the farm begins to bare fruit sooner rather than later, because we all know that the Major League roster needs it.

Check out this video of Cheslor Cuthbert, cool stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUcnEXBxkek