In my seven years here, he's the best young Latin American hitter as a free-agent amateur who came here.

I'll never complain about the cards we're given. We have to work with all of them. I really don't look at other organizations and compare us, because we have enough work to do with the guys we have here. You read all the stuff about where we're ranked, but we had eight guys on the 25-man roster last year. And since I've been here, we've never had a guy come back here in the big leagues with someone else that we released or lost in the Rule 5.

He's kind of at a standstill because he has blister problems. We have to see more from him. Last year he got off to a good start, but right now he's a one-pitch pitcher because of the finger problem. So far, he's been fine this Spring Training. I'm not ready to say he's going to be a front-line guy yet. He hasn't made me a believer yet. He has a Major League fastball, though, and it gets on you in a hurry. He's another long-range guy and will be vying for a job at Fort Wayne.

He does everything easy on the baseball field. If you're not watching, you might miss something. This guy has the most natural, fluid stroke in the system. I would say he's a natural hitter with easy power. The ball just jumps off his bat. And he throws like he swings. His throws just carry. He has a solid Major League arm. He does things so easily, you don't know he's there.

His bat has a ways to go, but he's got a chance to be a real special defender. Bat speed is hard to teach, and he has to realize what type of hitter he is. He's got to learn to be a line-drive hitter and not a power hitter. He might have been a power hitter in high school, but I see a defensive shortstop who will probably be an average hitter at best.

He's a competitor and has great belief in himself. You can tell that on the mound. He's got that look in his eye that he's going to get the hitter out. He has something that you're born with, something you can't teach. He has the heart to be a top-notch Major League pitcher. He expects to win and has a quiet confidence. He doesn't get rattled and has a chance to be a top-of-the-rotation guy.