Wilbur Miller’s writeup about Aguero tells you a lot about what you need to know; at one point he was four years younger and went by the name Samuel Vasquez*, but his move to the US brought his real identity and age out. Losing four years is not a good thing for a prospect, but after a rough 2008 and start to 2009, Aguero excelled out of the bullpen in West Virginia, Lynchburg, and Altoona and that was good enough (he posted very good strikeout rates and decent BB rates at every stop after moving to the ‘pen) to get himself placed on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
July 2010 update: Like Diego Moreno, Aguero pitched very well with Bradenton this year but has struggled with a promotion to Altoona. His strikeouts are way up with the Curve, though, so be on the watch for improvement. It’s interesting the Pirates elected to keep him over Ronald Uviedo in the Dana Eveland trade. It’s hard to know if Toronto wouldn’t have taken Aguero (it’s hard to believe they would’ve turned down any warm body for Eveland) or if the Pirates simply offered Uviedo. In any case, he’s a decent relief prospect but the front office has established that that doesn’t mean a whole lot to them. We’ll see what his future holds.
*Aguero’s Minor League Splits page is still messed up due to his identity problems.
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