The Atlanta Braves were recently penalized for breaking international amateur free agency rules, of which an MLB investigation resulted in 12 of the organization’s international prospects being ruled free agents, and former general manager John Coppolella receiving a lifetime ban from baseball.
All 12 players were permitted to sign with any of the other 29 MLB teams, and the top-rated prospect recently came off the board as shortstop Kevin Maitan signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a team that has been very active in the international free agent in recent years, but until this point, they had been quiet as far as the former Braves prospects were concerned.
That changed on Thursday, though, as they reportedly agreed to a contract with right-handed pitcher Guillermo Zuniga, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com:
Source: Dodgers have agreed to $205K deal with former Braves prospect Guillermo Zuniga. The RHP from Colombia was one of the 12 Atlanta international prospects granted free agency. https://t.co/JmzmSonk14 @MLBPipeline
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) December 7, 2017
The 19-year-old originally signed with the Braves out of Colombia for $350,000 in 2016. He was considered to be a bit of an unknown at the time.
Zuniga spent part of 2016 with the Braves Dominican Republic Summer League team, where he pitched 10.1 innings and yielded a 2.61 ERA and 1.36 WHIP while striking out nine and walking two.
The right-hander then spent 2017 with the Braves rookie-league affiliate, and in eight games (six starts) he pitched to a 5.06 ERA and 1.83 WHIP while striking out 13 and walking 11 in 21.1 innings.
