Leo Heras: Profiling Recent Signee

     Early this morning the Astros signed 23 year outfielder old Leo Heras. All of a sudden the Wesley Wright deal makes a lot more sense.  Please forgive me for ever doubting you master Luhnow. The 5'9 190 lb. top Mexican league prospect Heras throws right, and swings it lefty. The Astros have made no official announcement, but beat writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz confirmed via Twitter a deal is done; the announcement is most likely pending a physical. The book on Heras reads that he's a speedy versatile outfielder with pop in his stick as well as an above average contact tool to go with a developing walk rate. As recently as 2011, Leo saw playing time at second base, but he spends majority of his time in center and left. Heras is very polished for his age, especially in a league where the average age on a hitter comes in at around 29 years old. Many analysts acknowledge Mexican League play to be equivalent to that of AAA ball; therefore, I would go out on a pretty strong limb and call him an established, near major league ready prospect. Given his advanced play at a competitive level, I would assume at the least he starts at AA Corpus, and may compete for a starting spot this upcoming spring. I'm very excited about this one given his tool-set. Here is a look at his Mexican League numbers via baseball-reference.com and a couple videos sampling his ability along with a spray chart and heat map via mlbfarm.com....

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	19	Reynosa	105	486	442	89	146	21	10	1	46	13	10	30	57	.330	.376	.430	.806
2010	20	Reynosa	96	462	399	58	126	15	8	4	55	11	5	42	45	.316	.379	.424	.803
2011	21	Mexico	102	497	444	100	152	16	8	18	60	25	9	38	48	.342	.399	.536	.935
2012	22	Mexico	112	521	455	111	147	18	8	24	64	17	7	53	83	.323	.398	.556	.954
2013	23	Mexico	91	392	335	81	104	19	9	11	42	14	6	48	73	.310	.398	.519	.917

Heat map

Stud

Older video and stance, but gives you an idea of his pop at 20 years old