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THE WILLIE MUNOZ SWEEPSTAKES
21 Y/O CUBAN MOST TALENTED HURLER IN CNS; PUT UP FOR SALE BY CLUB

Just as the professional baseball preseason was about to move on to Spring Training and clubs were coming closer to setting their senior rosters, one big prize went up for grabs on the market: five-star Cuban prospect Willie Muñoz.

The 21-year-old Muñoz was put up for transfer by 1901/02 Cuban National Series champs Pinar del Rio for the record amount of $15,000, with any pro team available to sign him so long as they were able to meet PdR’s asking price.

It’s easy to see why Muñoz is viewed as having such significant potential. Even though he didn’t win the award that goes to the CNS’ premier pitcher – teammate Rogelio Diaz won it instead – he was named to the league’s Team of the Year after being part of a trio of pitchers to tie for the league lead in wins (19) and leading the league in strikeouts (213) by more than fifty.

Muñoz entered the Cuban league ahead of the inaugural CNS season in 1899 as a 17-year-old in the Pinar del Rio reserves who was extremely unrefined. He could throw rather hard but do little else. After spending one season in the Tobacco Growers’ reserves, Muñoz has since rapidly developed into the most intimidating pitcher outside of the United States other than Cecil Richards. The scouting reports on him and his three-year playing record for PdR show just that:

Muñoz still has a couple of pitches that need a bit of work and his control isn’t as far along as the two other main areas of his pitching, but with the speed of his development it shouldn’t be long before Muñoz becomes an elite pitcher at the highest level.

Pinar del Rio had just won their first championship in Cuba, so why let such a talented player go? Even though the Cuban league heavily restricts player movement, Muñoz apparently expressed a desire to move to the states and the opportunity to fill the club’s coffers with such a relatively large sum of money – PdR’s revenue in the 01/02 season was less than $30,000 – was seen as too good to pass up.

After almost a month of offers and counteroffers, it was the Pittsburgh Vulcans led by flashy new owner Bradley Clay who came out with the contract offer Muñoz liked the most, beating out the likes of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Providence, Milwaukee – where he would have been Hans Ehle’s heir apparent – and Minneapolis. Those other clubs offered more money, but since the Vulcans are still in building mode they were the only club with the available money who could offer Muñoz both a top spot in the rotation and the ability to be patient with him as he continues to develop.

The major signing capped off quite an offseason for Pittsburgh, who signed two major NBBO stars – OF Severin van der Kooi and P Onofrio Barberini – and made signings to improve defense in several other positions. Thanks to the offseason maneuvering, Northeastern pundits have put the Vulcans down for an improvement of about twenty wins for the upcoming season. That would have Pittsburgh winning more than double the games they won two years ago.