Categories: News

The race for Maitan, Ohtani to begin soon

A few international notes late on this Tuesday:

Kevin Maitan, along with 12 other Braves prospects, will become free agents as part of Atlanta’s penalty for circumventing international signing rules between 2015 and ’17. Maitan, regarded as one of the best Latin American prospects in a decade, is a 17-year-old shortstop who hit .241/.290/.340 over two levels last year after being signed by the Braves in 2016.

Todd Zolecki wrote that the Phillies could be in on Maitan, considering they hold some extra international spending money thanks to midseason trades. He added the Phils may also be players for a number of Braves farmhands who are also about to enter international free agency. The auctioning begins Dec. 5.

A new posting rules agreement between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball means that soon after Dec. 1, Shohei Ohtani will be posted, and teams will bid for his services

. Ohtani, 23, is a two-way threat, putting up 1.86 ERA with over a strikeout an inning in 2016, while also hitting .322/.416/.588 with 22 home runs.

Will the Phillies be players for Ohtani? Sure, everyone should be. But serious players? Yet to be seen.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.