Sabean on a Roll: Giants Sign Another 16 Year Old Latin Prospect

The Giants sign another top prospect, this time with good bloodlines (though I must note we had Rich Murray, brother of Eddie Murray, and he was never a viable MLB starting 1B). The prospect is Julio Izturis, younger brother of Cesar and Maicer Izturis, and he turns 17 later this month. He is currently playing against older competition in the Dominican Summer League (got all this info from the Merc).

He is a Venezuelan, like Omar Vizquel, and Rick Ragazzo, the Giants International scouting director, says that "he's a mix of the two brothers. He's 5-foot-10 - a little taller than both of them, and maybe not as strong as Cesar. He profiles more like Maicer, a second base/utility type. He's a switch hitter, he makes good contact. He's out of the same mold. He has a good feel for the game and he catches the ball at a high level. Once he's got it, he knows what to do with it."

After signing the papers with the Giants, which apparently was about two months ago (don't know why they waited until now to announce this), he spent a month working out with Cesar in LA (Cesar was rehabbing from an injury/surgery for the first half of this season), then went to Arizona to work out with Giants coaches for a month before heading to the Dominican Summer League.

So the Giants now have prominent Latin prospects for the left side and middle of the infield, Villalona at 3B, Sharlon Schoop at SS, and Julio Izturis at 2B. The Giants have not been a very visible player in the acquisition of Latin talent for a long time, but appear to be making up for lost time with the signing of Villalona and Izturis this season, and the arrival of Waldis Joaquin, Sharlong Schoop, and Pablo Sandoval last season on the Giants top prospect list. Hopefully this will continue for the forseeable future.