As one native of the Dominican Republic ascends to the top of the Cardinals' rotation and a top Dominican American prospect prepares to fight for a spot in the rotation this spring, Sandy Alcantara will have impressive role models at his first big league camp.
Alcantara is the latest hard-throwing right-hander that has blossomed since the Cardinals signed him out of the Dominican, following in the footsteps of Carlos Martinez and Alex Reyes.
Alcantara is one of the most intriguing young arms that will report to Roger Dean Stadium with the rest of the Cardinals' pitchers and catchers next week.
More than ever, the Cardinals have a thriving international pipeline that is complementing the draft selections with elite prospects.
The fruits of international director Moises Rodriguez's labor will be on full display this spring in big league camp and among the minor leaguers working on the back fields of Roger Dean Stadium.
Alcantara and second baseman Eliezer Alvarez are two young prospects to keep an eye on this spring in their first big league camps.
Alcantara, 21, is one of the few men in professional baseball who can throw harder than Martinez and as hard as Reyes.
"Over the last 12 months you've seen a boy become a man," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said of Alcantara. "As I was driving today, I was thinking of him as someone who might be knocking on the door."
Martinez was a known quantity when the Cardinals gave him a $1.5 million signing bonus out of the Dominican on April 20, 2010. Reyes, who was born and raised in New Jersey before moving to the Dominican to prepare to sign, was also well known in baseball circles when he received a $950,000 signing bonus.
Alcantara, however, was a relative unknown when former Cardinals international crosschecker Cesar Geronimo Jr. first saw him in 2013. He was eligible to sign a year earlier as a 16-year-old, but he didn't garner much attention until he was already 17. He was 6 feet 4 and 165 pounds when he signed for a $125,000 bonus.
At that point in his development, Alcantara's fastball sat at around 89 to 91 mph. Late Cardinals scout Rodny Jimenez, who also played a pivotal role in signing Reyes, pushed to sign Alcantara.
"His breaking ball wasn't great, but he had a lot of stuff at 17 that you like once you started thinking about it," Rodriguez said. "He wasn't throwing high 90s with a sharp breaking ball like he has now. He's somebody that had a lot of potential."
Alcantara is closer to 180 pounds now. His fastball, which has been clocked at 100 mph, overpowers hitters. He struck out 153 batters between Low- and High-Class A last season. He struck out 119 over 901/3 innings in 17 starts at Peoria before he was promoted to Palm Beach, where he struck out 34 over 321/3 innings in six starts.
He has averaged 9.6 strikeouts and 3.6 walks per nine innings over his minor league career. Although it remains to be seen how quickly Alcantara advances up the farm system, he already is another example of the Cardinals' international scouting department's ability to project a raw athlete's abilities.
"You have to be a little creative and dream a little bit," Rodriguez said. "You see good mechanics, strike throwing. You have to be able to throw the ball over the plate. And you start projecting out and go through the exercise of how this guy can be in the system.
"To see him grow into what he is now, it's satisfying for an organization."
Alvarez, 22, was one of the Cardinals' top amateur international signings in 2012 when he received a $450,000 bonus as a 17-year-old.
He had a breakthrough season at Peoria last year, hitting .323, with a .404 on-base percentage, .476 slugging percentage, an .879 OPS and six triples, six home runs, 36 stolen bases and 36 doubles in 116 games.
"He's an extremely athletic player, very strong for his age physically," Mozeliak said of Alvarez. "When you look at his offensive skill set it's extremely impressive. Plays the game hard. Just a very good-looking baseball player."
Alcantara and Alvarez are proof that the Cardinals' international department can hit on the modest signings as well as bonus babies such as Martinez and Reyes.
Speaking of bonus babies, it will be fun to check out some of the elite players the Cardinals signed while completely blowing past their international signing pool by spending more than $15 million last year.
The Cardinals made significant investments in a trio of Cubans: right-hander Johan Oviedo ($1.9 million) and outfielders Jonathan Machado ($2.3 million) and Randy Arozarena ($1.3 million). They also gave Venezuelan outfielder Victor Garcia, 16, a $1.5 million bonus.
Machado turned 18 last month. Oviedo will turn 19 on March 2, and Arozarena will turn 22 later this month.
"The nice thing about our Cuban class is that overall that should be a quick moving group," Mozeliak said.
The Cardinals' international pipeline should be fun to monitor this spring, whether in big league camp or on the back fields in minor league camp.
