The Cubs are in a bit of uncharted territory here the past couple years. Having two Arizona Rookie League teams gave the Cubs the affordability to draft more high school and junior college players which will hopefully create more depth in time…Theoretically.
One of those players who intrigued me last summer was the Cubs 22nd round pick Elian Almanzar out of Florence-Darlington Technical School in South Carolina, a junior college. After signing, Almanzar was assigned to the Mesa 1 (now Blue) squad where he pitched in eight games, all as a reliever.
Ht – 6’4”
Wt – 207
Age 20
Born – Santo Domingo, DR
Throws – Right
Stuff: FB – 93-95 T98; Changeup – 82-84; Slider – 83-84
His life story is an interesting one. He was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to Boston at eight years old. In high school, he was seen at a showcase in Fort Myers Florida where the Darlington coach began recruiting him to come play. He threw 26.2 IP last spring striking out 30 in his only year of junior college.
Here is a video of him being interviewed about how he came to Darlington-Technical and his background.
As for his 2020 Cubs debut…
Having already pitched a full season in junior college, Almanzar’s innings would be limited. For the first six outings, he was almost unhittable. In 6.2 IP, he literally did not allow an earned run. He also whiffed 6 and walked just 4. In his last two outings, he got roughed up quite a bit.
Almanzar can throw his fastball in the mid 90s, sometimes getting up to 98. Although he just turned 20 in February, his secondaries still need some work. I’m excited to see what he can do fresh in 2020. Hopefully, he will be in Eugene. Whether he will start or relieve is still up in the air. I’ll be interested to see just exactly where he ends up and how much he improves over the course of whatever season they do have.
Here is some video of Elian from high school.
Cubs Central 
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