Mets, Padres, Braves Show Interest in Yenier Bello

The New York Mets,  San Diego Padres, and Atlanta Braves are among the teams to express interest in Cuban catcher Yenier Bello, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com tweets. 

Bello, 28, was recently cleared by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control to sign with a major league team, and he is expected to reach an agreement before the start of spring training.

Bello defected from Cuba this past summer and did his first major league showcase last November in Mexico, which was attended by 15 to 20 teams.

Brice Dixon, Bello’s agent, is promoting the Cuban free agent as a hard working catcher who’s game is largely predicated on power and a strong arm behind the plate. Although Cuban stats are always dubious, Bello’s stats in the Cuban Series Nacional seem to back up this claim. Three years ago, he slashed to a  .300/.346/.550 line and finished eighth in the league with 17 home runs. That season, Bello threw out 17 of 30 would be base stealers, a 56% caught stealing rate that would have led the majors in every year since 2005.  In 2011, his last full season, he hit 13 home runs, a respectable number considering the relatively short 90 game Cuban season.

Because Bello is over 23 and has played three years of professional baseball, his future contract will not count against his team’s international signing cap. That being said, a bidding war like the ones fought over Jose Dariel Abreu and Alexander Guerrero is not to be expected; Bello is simply not as talented a player. At 28, he is unlikely to experience much further development, and based on his stats and general scouting reaction, he profiles best as a backup or platoon type catcher, an average regular at best.

With the Mets relying on an oft-injured rookie to be their starting catcher, the Braves losing Brian McCann to free agency, and the Padres unclear if they have one viable catcher between Nick Hundley and Yasmani Gandal, all three of these teams could use Bello as a legitimate back up behind the dish.