Cardinals land Latin American talent Wagner Mateo (updated with picture)
ST. LOUIS — At a ceremony this morning in Santo Domingo, St. Louis Cardinals farm director/VP Jeff Luhnow presented coveted talent Wagner Mateo with a Cardinals jersey, a symbolic gesture that the organization had just taken its boldest move yet into the realm of international player acquisition.
The international signing period opened today, and the Cardinals announced this morning that they finalized a deal with the 16-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic.
Cardinals signee Wagner Mateo, shown at a press conference in Santo Domingo on Thursday morning. (Courtesy: Cardinals)
Mateo, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound center fielder, bats and throws lefthanded. He was born on March 30, 1993, and according to reports his birth date was cleared during an investigation of prospects by Major League Baseball. Mateo played in Major League Baseball’s RBI World Series in both 2007 and 2008 representing the Dominican Republic.
A video of him can be seen in this May 29 blog entry that reported the Cardinals’ interest.
The Cardinals brought Mateo to Jupiter, Fla., for a workout with team personnel and a few weeks ago general manager John Mozeliak flew down to the Dominican Republic in person to meet Mateo, see him play and finalize the record agreement that became a contract today. He’s expected to have received a bonus of $3.1 million, almost $2 million more than the Cardinals previous record for an international signing.
“We have come a long way since re-establishing our presence in the Dominican Republic in 2004,” Luhnow said in a release. “I want to thank everyone involved and especially ownership for providing the resources for us to compete for the top international talent.”
On Wagner’s ability, Cardinals scout and director of international operations Moises Rodriguez said in the release: “Wagner is the top player available in Latin America this year and we have scouted him heavily over the past two years. His bat is special and we look forward to his continued development as a professional.”
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(8 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I give it a week before someone posts to bring him up to the majors. It will only increase when Brett Wallace is finally called up. Seriously, though, it does seem like a very good change in management philosophies.
lets bring him up give him a shot,hes gotta be better than duncan
I agree with Eric,
Bring up Mateo and trade Duncan to the Giants.
I hear they are looking for a Left Handed hitting first baseman.
Maybe we can get Lincecum from them?
tone-dog: Apparently it only took a little over an hour. Classic!
Let’s hope he pans out and we see him with the big club by his 21st birthday.
Red Blazer, come back to planet earth buddy. It’s the blue, white, and brown looking planet.
I’ve seen the youtube videos on this kid and at the age of 16 he’s got all the tools and size to be a special player. I just don’t know how you can justify spending 5 million on a 16 year old kid (which don’t get me wrong I’m glad we got) but then you have below average players like Duncan and Thurston STARTING on your major league roster. Glad the Redbirds spent some loot on the kid and were aggressive but shouldn’t we take care of the major league roster first with this type of money? Just thinking out loud
If the Cards management starts paying competitively for this kind of talent that can later be cost controlled for several years, then this build-from-within may actually work. They need to get their 1st round pitcher signed. I don’t want to hear about how he was too much over slot. They will save a great deal of money over the long term even if they have to put up a little extra now.
Now, that’s more like it. Have wondered why the Cards participation in the international market was almost nonexistent up until now. Good to see them competing for top talent.
This story makes me feel really old. I remember when Stan Musial had to fight to get a hundred grand, and they brought in about five shortstops to try and avoid paying Ozzie one million. This kid gets three-plus mil for - what? Maybe they can come up with another three million and use it to pay Duncan’t to move to the Dominican Republic!
Stubby clap,
It was a running joke from blogdom world.
You can laugh now.