Future Giants 3B? Info on Cuban Defector Dayan Viciedo

Ran across information on recent Cuban defector Dayan Viciedo, 3B. I've seen accounts where he is 18 but mostly that he is 19. Obviously the Giants could use a 3B prospect and hence why I'm covering him here. I would add this caveat that most hyped Cuban defectors appear to be more fluff than substance when they finally make the majors, so results can and will vary greatly.

He is attempting to circumvent MLB rules on his status - Cuban defectors must go through the draft if defecting to U.S., but can go free agent if defects to a Carribean country, like the Dominican Republic - and be a free agent without leaving the U.S. I doubt that is going to happen, the MLB is not going to bend the rules for one guy when they didn't before. They are trying to loop-hole that they were in the U.S. before the latest draft and therefore is an undrafted amateur, eligible for free agency, but according to the BA article linked below, he would need to be on the MLB eligibles list that was sent to all clubs to become a free agent. That would imply he would go through the draft next summer.

Here are some articles on him, reportedly there are 14 teams (of course, Yankees are one of them) vying for his services, hopefully one of them is the Giants (roughly 50/50 chance, anyway, eh?):

• Teams Lining Up for Hot Prospect
• Cuban Baseball Player Defects
• Cuban Baseball Player Goes Public After Defecting
• Cuban Viciedo in Miami (Baseball America)
• Dayan Viciado, the Rough Diamond of Cuban Baseball (article when he was younger)

One of the articles noted:

Viciedo, a 19-year-old third baseman, is considered as big a star in Cuba as
Omár Linares, the most well-rounded player to emerge from the Cuban leagues
since 1959 and a player highly coveted by major league scouts during the 1980s.

Here is a good description of him:

Standing 6-2 and weighing 202 pounds, Viciedo is known as a powerful batter
and a versatile defender, capable of playing shortstop, third base and outfield,
and he even can pitch. His fastball has been clocked at more than 90 mph, but he
said his pitching days are over.

Sounds like just want the Giants need! Here is the kicker, from the BA article, as some see him to be similar to Villalona, though it has some well needed tempering of expectations, particularly compared to the quote just above:

Viciedo, born in March 1989, is listed at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, but reports
are that he was bigger than that last year at the World Junior Championship in
Mexico. Viciedo has excellent power and hitting ability, however, with one scout
comparing him to Giants prospect Angel Villalona. He slugged over .500 two of
the last three seasons in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, its top-level league, hitting
14 homers in 2005-2006—as a 16-year-old—in his best season.

"His body could go the same route as Livan Hernandez, and when I saw him in Mexico, he wasn’t very good at third base anymore," one international scouting director said. "But he can really hit; in fact, I think he’s probably a better hitter than
Villalona."

Villolona received a $2.1 million bonus from the Giants in 2006 and is currently playing for low Class A Augusta.

Another scout who had seen Viciedo was less enthused about him as a player, pegging him as a first baseman-only hitter with a bad body. "You know everybody liked Kendry Morales," the scout said, referring to the Angels’ Cuban DH/first baseman, "and he had some other tools. But his body’s gone south and he’s pretty much just a DH. So I think it’s premature to get too excited about this guy."

Well, that's the cloud in the coffee, a bad body type destined for 1B, but some think he's comparable with our Angel Villalona as a hitter. There's your replacement for you Smoak-lovers and he could be available when the Giants pick in the next draft. Despite his potential, though, the questions above suggest that he could fall in the draft much like Smoak did, and Smoak had a lot more positives going for him over Viciedo. And as I noted, most Cuban defectors haven't really done that well in the majors, especially when Livan is the best comparison of recent eyars and, while I'm a pretty good student of baseball history, the name Omar Linares don't even raises a blip on my radar, I'm not aware of him being such a good ballplayer and I was fairly still hooked in - single, nerdy :^) - in the 1980's when he was playing.

Still, in a system lacking in top-ranked position talent (though Villalona has changed things, and Posey and, Noonan should join sooner than later), it could not hurt that a top talent capable of playing a corner infield position is added to the list of top draftees of the 2009 draft, it could enable a talent we really want to fall to us if Viciedo proves worthy enough of a high selection or if the Giants like him, they can select him. More choices are always better.