Although MLB is still in suspension, the signing of international amateur players still starts on time. The Chicago White Sox continue their tradition of favoring Cuban players by officially signing 23-year-old Cuban fielder Oscar Colas for $2.7 million.
Kolas was born in Santiago de Cuba, but was sent to Japan early on by Cuban officials to play for the Fukuoka Soft Silver Hawks. In 2020, he defected from Cuba and has been playing without a ball for nearly two years. Earlier, Coras could still pitch, and the media also fired him as another Shohei Otani, but looking at the data of his professional baseball career, he only had 3.1 innings of pitching in the Cuban league at the age of 19, dropped a point, and actually gave three guarantees. Career statistics for Professional Baseball at all levels of Kolas's career are .282/.343/.483, with 28 hits and 38 second-base runs per 730 playing positions.
Regarding Kolas pitching, a player development expert in the White Sox said that Kolas will become a wild player full-time in the future, "That's what he thinks, he feels that he has a better chance of success in the fielder position, and he will spend more time as a pitcher than a fielder." As a wild player, he has that kind of explosive power on the field, and as a wild player, he can get to the big league faster."
The White Sox have a tradition of using Cuban players, including Minnie Minoso, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame late last year, and currently have four Cubans in their main starting line, including catcher Jasmani Glendall, first baseman Jose Abreu, third baseman Joan Moncada and center fielder Luis Roberto. In addition, in their small league system, there are Jorqui-Cespedes, Norkey Villa and Yobert Sanchez.
Colas said he had detailed conversations with Robert, Cespedes and Sanchez before the final decision to sign with the White Sox.
"They told me it was a really good team and they were very happy that I was able to choose them," Colas said through a translator, "and those Cuban guys also want me to join and play alongside them". It is worth mentioning that Coras and Robert were teammates of the Cuban U18 national team.
Colas was also signed with 17-year-old Dominican player Eric Hernandez, who is also a left-handed left-and-left player, and the Latin American department of the White Sox is constantly growing, and they can achieve good results in recent years, and they are indispensable to the efforts of these Latin American players.
(Text/Geng Haoyang)