One day, El Mago set up a workout for Cueto with the Red Sox.
“Look,” El Mago told Boston scouts, “I’ve brought you the second coming of Pedro Martinez.”
That day Cueto threw 92 mph, yet that was not enough to impress Boston’s scouts. They offered him so little that Johnny’s father told him, “Even I could give you that much money.”
At that point, almost everyone involved had gotten desperate. One night, El Mago called then-Reds scout Luis Baez.
“I have a prospect for you,” El Mago told him.
Baez did not have the authority to sign players. Luckily, though, Johnny Almaraz — the Reds’ Latin American scouting director at the time — was in the Dominican Republic. But there was a catch: Almaraz had an 11 a.m. flight the next day, so Cueto would have to appear for an early-morning workout.
At 7 a.m. the next day, Cueto threw 10-15 pitches, all of them clocked between 91-92 mph.
“I didn’t even care about his size,” Baez said. “We just saw the ability.”
The Reds invited Cueto to their Dominican academy, where he spent the next two weeks training with Cincinnati coaches. Almost each day Cueto’s mother Cristina showed up to check up on her boy.
Baez saw Cueto throw several bullpen sessions during that time and sent his reports to Almaraz. Shortly after, Almaraz decided to sign Cueto for $35,000 based on Baez’s reports and the 10-15 pitches he saw during that early-morning workout.
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