来源:MLBTR http://goo.gl/Jd5nmr
The Rangers are nearing a minor league deal with free agent Alexei Bell,
according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). The 32-year-old
outfielder hit the open market after leaving his native Cuba in search of a
big league opportunity.
Bell owns an impressive track record in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, where he
played for 14 seasons. In 3,441 career plate appearances, he owns a
.319/.417/.547 batting line with 138 home runs. He was still running up those
kinds of numbers in his final year of action there in 2014, and has top-notch
plate discipline with a lifetime tally of 431 walks against just 439
strikeouts.
Since that time, Bell has spent time playing in Canada and, more recently,
Mexico. He wasn’t doing much at the plate in a nine-game run with Quintana
Roo earlier this year, though it’s hard to read too much into the results in
such a short sample for a player who hadn’t played competitively in some
time.
Despite his previous success, Bell hasn’t generated much buzz as a free
agent. As Ben Badler of Baseball America explains, Bell owns a big arm that
ought to work in right. But he doesn’t deliver premium power and isn’t a
good runner. While he would have made for a really interesting prospect
earlier in his career, Badler says that scouts aren’t optimistic about his
potential to be a major contributor at this stage.
Despite those limitations, it’s not at all surprising to see a club take a
shot on a veteran who has such an impressive track record. Whether or not he’
ll earn a shot at the majors remains to be seen.