The Brewers front office received word today that head scout Nick Meskill had spotted a potential future first baseman during his scouting travels in the Dominican Republic. Now it's always very hard to project what might happen with these generally quite young and undeveloped young men, but this 16-year old, Israel Calderon, stands out for already having raw power with the potential for above average HR production in the bigs and overall hit tool potential that could lead to a solid WPK career someday. Admittedly, he is slow afoot and will likely only develop adequate defensive skills at first, but he is one of the more intriguing international scouting discoveries we've seen in awhile.
Up to now the two most successful players the Brewers found this way are current Oklahoma City back-up outfielder and team captain Jordan Gallardo, who was an All-Star for the Diamond Kings in 1973, and Brewers current top prospect Jorge Gonzalez. The Brewers bullpen also currently features another scouting discovery, Antonio Nieves, who was signed out of Mexico in 1968.
But none of them profiled with as much potential talent as young Mr. Calderon does at age 16. Only time will tell whether he develops into a future Brewer and even possibly a star in the WPK.