Meet A Prospect : Cesar Cabral

Cesar Augusto Cabral was born on February 11th, 1989 in Sabana Grande de Palenque, Dominican Republic. Standing with a 6'3" frame and 250 lb frame throwing from the left side it is easy to see why the Boston Red Sox signed him as an International Free Agent in 2006. Cabral pitches strictly from the stretch and throws a fastball that sits around 91-93 mph and tops out at 95 mph when he really dials it back. To complement his fastball is an 81-83 mph circle change up, a mid 70's mph slurve, and a 79-82 mph curve ball. He can harness all of these pitches for control and has a ton of movement on all of them for a lot of swings and misses. If healthy he will make a huge contribution for the Yankees in this coming season and may make a Clay Rapada or a Boone Logan expendable.

Cesar Cabral spent the 2006-2009 seasons in the Boston Red Sox farm system starting in the Dominican Summer League in 2006 where he went 1-4 with a 4.54 ERA in 11 games to start his professional career. In 2007 he would improve in the DSL with a 5-4 record to go with a 1.76 ERA in 14 starts. In 2008 Cesar was moved up to the Gulf Coast League Red Sox where he struggled a little with a 2-5 record with a 5.59 ERA in 11 games but did strike out 51 batters in 48.1 IP. Cesar would be moved up once in 2009 when he went to the Red Sox Short Season team the Lowell Spinners where he put up a 1-6 record with a 4.03 ERA in 15 games. In 2010 Cesar was exclusively made into a reliever and split time with the Red Sox Low A affiliate Greenville Drive and their High A affiliate the Salem Red Sox going a combined 4-0 with a 3.63 ERA in 45 appearances while striking out 80 batters in 79.1 IP. Cesar Cabral would be drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2010 Rule 5 Draft but his stay would not be long because he would be claimed on waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays in March of the 2011 season. Two days later he was waived by the Toronto Blue Jays and was claimed back by the Tampa Bay Rays only to be returned to the Boston Red Sox two weeks later per the Rule 5 rules.

The Kansas City Royals drafted Cabral from the Boston Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft and sold him to the New York Yankees before the 2012 season. Cesar Cabral was in the middle of winning a job for the New York Yankees as the second left handed reliever last Spring Training before a stress fracture in his left throwing elbow cost him the entire 2012 season. In Spring Cesar put up a 1-0 record with a 1.59 ERA in 10 games and 11.1 IP. While in Spring Training Cesar struck out 12 batters and only walked two, one intentionally, while putting up an impressive 1.24 WHIP. If he comes back healthy this season I find it hard to see how the Yankees do not trade Boone Logan and make room for Cabral.

ETA : 2013