[mikev]

Crusaders Ink Minor Leaguers During Offseason

In an offseason that was likely to be quiet on the Free Agent front, the Crusaders announced that several minor leaguers have been signed by scouts to play in the minor leagues:


MR Norihisa Kobayashi

Kobayashi, a 17 year old flamethrowing right hander from Japan, already has the pure stuff to get GUBA hitters out. He will likely skip directly over Rookie and Short A ball, and start his career in Single A Glendale.


SP Fei Shui

Shui, another signing from the Far East, is a starter who will more than likely need to show some improvement to reach the big leauges. His upside right now is probably that of a #4/#5 starter or a swingman.


1B Yunosuke Sato

Scouts have been kicking ass in Japan. Now, I don't want to get too excited, but if this kid develops completely, I'd say that I have a replacement for Jakob Forest in about 5 years. He's rated 8/10/8/3/9 by my head scout.


CF Andre Cooley

Cooley is a speedster, and a doubles machine to boot. He projects as a plus fielder at all three outfield positions, so he'll likely have a job as a backup/defensive replacement type at the least. If he can work on his plate discipline in the minors, he'd have an outside shot at a starting job due to his defense.


MR Aguinaldo Apoliniro

This guy is totally getting called "AA". He's from Brazil, he throws SIX different pitches, and he's rated 5/5/10 by the scout that found him. Along with a 67% groundball ratio, I totally love this guy's talent set.