When the Braves first began scouting Diego Tornes years ago, they always left the field wondering whether he might be a left fielder, first baseman or designated hitter. He could hit. He had power. The Braves’ scouts needed to see more, though.
“It was always, ‘Well, what’s going to happen with Diego?’” said Jonathan Cruz, the Braves’ director of Latin American scouting.
A few months later, Cruz went to the field and saw Tornes, sledgehammer in hand, pounding a tire. Covered in sweat, Tornes kept mashing the tire. And right then and there, Cruz saw work ethic.
“You started dreaming of, ‘All right, this guy’s putting in the work. Don’t give up on this kid yet,’” Cruz said. “Instead of that one-dimensional profile that we thought, or most of the industry thought, he was going to be, we just kept going back, kept going back, saw him get better consistently. And now, we’re pretty confident he’s going to play center field.”
The Braves on Wednesday signed Tornes, an outfielder originally from Cuba, for a $2.5 million bonus on the first day of the international period. That day, they signed hard-throwing right-hander Raudy Reyes, who’s from the Dominican Republic. Both are 16 years old.
They headline this year’s international signing class for the Braves, who have inked 19 international amateurs to this point. They can continue signing international players through Dec. 15.
Here are more takeaways:
How the Braves landed Diego Tornes
The story of Tornes and the Braves is filled with some intelligence and some good fortune.
“Diego is probably a $4 (million) or $5 million talent,” Cruz said. “It just goes to show everyone shot their bullets early and gave up on Diego. This kid’s something else.”
The Braves, though, didn’t give up on Tornes. They continued scouting him. They saw something in him.
They were smart to do so.
It also helped the Braves that some other clubs prioritized other players … all while Tornes continued improving.
“There’s two ways of going about it,” Cruz said. “Obviously, you want a consensus (top) guy early on. But we’ve come to learn that we’ll evaluate those guys, but if we don’t fall in love with those players, there’s going to be players like Diego Tornes popping up. If he had the other tools developed, the body got leaner, he grew some more — (if) that developed as early as the other guys, we might not even land Diego at the time, because other teams might’ve started their process sooner.”
Tornes left Cuba in 2021 and the Braves began scouting him when he was at his academy in the Dominican Republic. Tornes is 6-foot-1, 2015 pounds. He’s pushing 6-foot-2, Cruz said.
He’ll have above-average speed. He’s lean and athletic. From the outfield, his throws have clocked 97 mph. He’s chased down balls in center field.
The Braves believe he has five-tool potential.
“I believe so,” Cruz said. “Obviously, the most important two-tool combo, the hit (and) power, he’s got.”
Raudy Reyes has eye-popping potential
The number to know: 102.
Reyes has touched 102 mph — at 16 years old.
Yes, scouts are wary of evaluating solely with the radar gun. But Reyes has special velocity, and the Braves believe they can mold him into something great, as evidenced by the $1.8 million bonus the Braves gave him.
“The floor is there, right — 102 (mph) is 102, anywhere, at any level,” Cruz said. “With Raudy, he’s a unicorn. There’s no other way to shape that. By a couple days, he’s not in the next year’s signing class, he’s so young. In the scouting process with Raudy, obviously he didn’t have to work with putting his secondary pitch where he wants to — he just had to throw fastballs. So we’re going to elevate his game to another facet here when he reports with us.
“We’re pretty good with pitching. We’ve all seen what (Braves director of pitching development) Paul Davis and his staff does with pitching. They’re really, really good at what they do. Raudy, he’s not a herky-jerky guy either. He’s pretty under control with what he does. I think more than anything, for the ceiling, he’ll start as long as he can. There’s no reason to slot him into the bullpen right away. That’s the best way to develop experience in young pitchers. So he’s going to get innings. He has an idea of command, surprisingly enough. We just got to get the control there to explore those ideas.”
Reyes also throws a slider and a change-up. His slider is more of a cutter because he needed to throw it for a strike often enough to get hitters to swing, so it might not have as much sweep to it right now. His change-up, Cruz said, is “surprisingly good.” It has some depth to it, but it’s a clear third pitch, and the Braves must help Reyes develop it.
Reyes is 6-foot-4, 210 pounds. Cruz said he talks and acts like a 16-year-old, but he’s a big guy and doesn’t look his age.
The Braves scouted Reyes as early as when he threw 89 mph. He eventually began to comfortably throw 95-98 mph, while hitting 100 mph. Then he touched 101. Then 102.
Cruz compared Reyes with Jarlin Susana, who signed with the Padres as an international amateur in 2022. That summer, Susana was a key piece in San Diego’s deal with the Nationals to acquire Juan Soto.
And Cruz said Reyes is ahead of where Susana was when he signed.
Reyes’ goal: To be in the big leagues by age 19.
Two more names to know
Infielders Manuel Campos and Angel Carmona. Both are from Venezuela.
Campos, a switch-hitting shortstop, comes from the same academy as outfielder Luis Guanipa, who signed with the Braves in 2023. Campos is wiry, lean and athletic.
“He’s got a chance to be an above-average defender,” Cruz said. “He’s twitchy from both sides. Everything that he does is really smooth. It’s the same type of swing from both sides of the plate. Good baseball IQ. He just has everything you like in a middle infielder.”
Asked for comparisons for Campos, Cruz gave a range: Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, César Hernández (a recent big-league middle infielder) and Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia.
And Carmona?
“There’s a lot of dreaming with Carmona,” Cruz said. “He’s got very good upside. He’s athletic. He’s got a projectable large frame. He’s a player that’s got a chance to bring value (to) both sides (of the game). There’s a lot of talent there that needs to be molded, but he fits at shortstop, he’s got the range, he’s got the arm, the glove works. His swing, it’s the type of swing that covers the plate for a long time.”
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