Padres Agree To Sign Cuban Pitcher Ronald Bolanos

The Padres are close to adding another player to their international signing haul, with an agreement in place to sign 19-year-old Cuban righthander Ronald Bolanos for $2.25 million.

Based on his present ability, Bolanos should be able to handle an assignment to low Class A Fort Wayne or possibly high Class A Lake Elsinore, though Bolanos won’t pitch this season. At 6-foot-2 190 pounds, Bolanos is a good athlete with long arms and a fastball that has improved since he left Cuba last year, ranging from 90-96 mph. He has shown a late-breaking slider that flashes above-average with good bite at times, though it’s still an inconsistent pitch, along with a curveball with three-quarters break.

Bolanos came up through the Cuban junior leagues as an outfielder, then converted to pitching in 2014. Pitching mostly as a reliever in Cuba’s 18U national league that year, Bolanos posted a 2.02 ERA in 35 2/3 innings with 38 strikeouts and 19 walks. He earned a spot on Cuba’s junior national team, which played in the COPABE 18U Pan American Championship in 2014 in Mexico, where he had a team-high 15 strikeouts with six walks in nine scoreless innings.

At that time, Bolanos’ fastball ranged from 88-93 mph and showed flashes of an above-average but inconsistent slider. When he returned from Mexico, he pitched for Mayabeque in Cuba’s top league, Serie Nacional, mostly as a reliever during the 2014-15 season. His inexperience showed, as Bolanos had more walks (30) than strikeouts (23) with a 4.89 ERA in 37 2/3 innings.

The Padres have been heavily involved in signing several top international prospects since the 2016-17 signing period opened on July 2, going far beyond their bonus pool. They signed signed two of the top Cuban players, lefthander Adrian Morejon for $11 million and right fielder Jorge Ona for $7 million (Ona and Bolanos were teammates on Cuba’s junior national team, while Morejon and Bolanos played together during the 2014-15 season for Mayabeque). The Padres also signed eight of Baseball America’s top 50 international prospects for July 2, including three of the top six—Dominican shortstop Luis Almanzar (No. 2), Venezuelan shortstop Gabriel Arias (No. 4) and Dominican outfielder Jeisson Rosario (No. 6).