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When I was driving in to work this morning, Jo Adell was the Angels’ #1 prospect in their farm system. But by the time I got to my office, settled in and turned on my computer, those rankings had been monumentally altered. Wow. Billy Eppler has done it again, and just like that, the Halos have a new toy in their prospect toy box.
The Angels signed 17-year-old international prospect Kevin Maitan, who was most recently with the Braves, was the top prospect in the 2016 international class and Atlanta had acquried him with a $4.25 million bonus. Of course, due to the international scouting scandal that was revealed recently, the Braves had to give up some of their prospects and Maitan was easily the best of that castaway bunch.
The Braves’ loss is the Angels’ gain here, as they now get a new #1 prospect in their system, all to the tune of $2.2 million. Buster Olney was first with the news.
Source confirms: #Angels have agreed to terms with IF Kevin Maitan, the top player the #Braves sacrificed after violating MLB rules for international signings. First: @Buster_ESPN.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 5, 2017
Source: Angels agreement with former Braves prospect Kevin Maitan is for $2.2 million. The deal is still pending a physical. @Buster_ESPN had the agreement first. @MLBPipeline
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) December 5, 2017
Maitan hit .241/.290/.340 most recently in rookie ball, with two dingers and 18 RBI in 42 games, but he’s also just 17 years old, with plenty of time to develop. This is the type of chance you want your teams taking in the international market. This is one hell of an infield prospect acquisition and it’s about as far away as you can get from a Roberto Baldoquin deal.
Of course, this will take a bite out of their international bonus pool, which in turn will make them a little less flexible when it comes to the Ohtani situation, but when a front office gets the opportunity to pick up a kid as talented as Maitan, you get it done and worry about the ramifications later. (Note: Just read Jeff Fletcher say that the Angels are using next year’s international bonus pool money, so they can still go big on Ohtani, yay!)
Kevin Maitan, ladies and gentlemen. Your new #1 Angels prospect.