The 27-year-old Cuban baseball player that the Rays signed today comes in with a pretty decent resume.  He’s a career .320 hitter while playing eight seasons in the Cuban National Series, including .381 last season.  It’s said that he projects at about 15-20 home runs, so average power.  And, defensively, he’s played all three outfield positions and has a gold glove at first base.

But, according to ESPN the Magazine baseball writer Jorge Arangure, Jr., at least a couple of big league scouts who recently watched Anderson work out came away unimpressed.  In his ESPN Insider blog, Arangure quotes one baseball executive as saying:

“He was mediocre at best. Very average tools.”

And, in more detail, there’s this from a scout:

“Leslie showed a below average arm while throwing from centerfield and first base. He ran badly from home to first base. During batting practice he hit several line drives, but showed no power. Defensively, he’ll need to play either first base or left field and hit with a very high average and lots of home runs, and right now I don’t project that he could. I’d have to think he needs to have another showcase since he didn’t hit against live pitching, but instead just had batting practice.”

Of course, none of this matters.  Yet.  He will arrive in Port Charlotte any day now and should begin to display what kind of talent he brings.  While his agent believes Anderson could make the majors out of camp, I’d have to say a better bet is to see him start his career in Durham.