Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Meet Serguey Linares

The Pirates newest addition was profiled today in a solid piece by Dejan. Serguey Linares throws gas. Other than that, there isn't much on paper that proposes that Linares will help the Pirates anytime soon. Linares will immediately be one of the hardest throwers in the Pirates organization.

In this article that was printed in Baseball America from August of 2006, BA talks about both Yoslan Herrera and Serguey Linares. Here are some of the most interesting tidbits.

Two scouts familiar with the players told Baseball America that Herrera was the most impressive of the quintet at a recent workout at the Diamondbacks academy in the Dominican, but that Linares and Perez have attracted the most attention of the group from scouts.

Linares, 23, was affected by the food poisoning and didn't pitch except for a side bullpen session. Listed at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Linares has had poor results in his Serie Nacional career, going 7-10, 5.59 with nearly as many walks (86) as strikeouts (111) in 163 career innings.

Herrera, 25, has had success in Cuba, with a career 18-7, 3.72 record. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound righthander has shown command of a fringy fastball and what Torres termed an above-average curve ball, and one scout liked him a lot. "He's got an above-average split-finger (fastball) and was 88-92," the scout said. "I could see his velocity jumping up to 90-94 once he gets into a system and he could very easily be a No. 4 starter in the big leagues."

The article also quotes agent Jaime Torres, who says that he believes Herrera is farther along than Alay Soler, who made his debut with the Mets last season.

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