Japhet Amador: Profiling The Astros Latest Acquisition

     Jeff Luhnow is embarking on a revolution regarding the way Mexican League talent is evaluated among the international market. It's too early to say with affirmation, but it's reasonable to assume that Mexican League talent has been largely over-looked and under valued among the international baseball community. Considering Luhnow's ties to Mexico, it comes as no surprise that he's wisely implemented the strategy of putting a heavier emphasis on scouting Mexican League ballplayers. Today the boss-man confirmed beefing up efforts to keep eyes on the Mexican Leagues, "Finding and acquiring the best Mexican League talent is a priority for us....We have increased our scouting of the Mexican baseball leagues". Japhet Amador became the latest Mexican League addition to the organization today as the Astros bought his rights from the Mexican City Diablos Rojos.

     The big bopper Amador is posting eye popping numbers thus far this year. The large 6'4 315lb first baseman has rare, world class pop that is hard to find and nearly impossible to teach. Still fairly young, the 26 year old joins his teammate Leo Heras in the Astros organization. Although Amador's power is clearly his most valuable asset, he can handle the stick quite well and looks to have a plus contact tool posting a K% no higher than 16.8%. Don't expect the big man to swipe bags in bunches any time soon. I haven't seen film of his glove-work, but a .994 career fielding percentage is certainly encouraging. It's also telling that he has spent no more than 8 games of his career at DH, so a point is made to keep his glove at first. It's hard to be certain just how excited we should be regarding this signing, as are most deals including players without a publicized scouting profile, but I for one am pretty high on him given I think his power will transfer. Heras and Amador mark the first of most likely many players brought over from the Mexican Leagues. I absolutely love the strategy, this well is entirely untapped, run it dry Mr. Luhnow! Heras will go straight to AA Corpus Christi, and Amador will report to AAA OKC. Here is a look at Amador's numbers and a bit of video to showcase the power he possesses. Also below are Japhet's spray chart and heatmap courtesy of mlbfarm.com. I'm very impressed by his tendency to use all parts of the field, and especially encouraged by homerun locations on his spray chart, Amador has power to all fields and takes full advantage of that.

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2007	20	Minatitlan	29	67	55	6	11	1	0	6	12	12	.200	.343	.218	.561
2008	21	Minatitlan	17	36	34	2	9	2	1	2	1	6	.265	.306	.412	.717
2009	22	2 Teams	104	440	392	59	120	21	21	74	37	59	.306	.369	.536	.905
2010	23	Mexico	79	315	273	50	100	26	14	63	36	45	.366	.448	.615	1.063
2011	24	Mexico	89	398	351	70	132	22	25	84	39	56	.376	.440	.664	1.104
2012	25	Mexico	81	328	283	39	71	12	15	50	41	55	.251	.351	.459	.810
2013	26	Mexico	104	449	400	76	147	22	36	121	38	59	.368	.419	.693	1.111