It was the second half of Jun-Seok Shim's pitches that really stood out to the Pirates' brass when they made the trip to watch him.
Shim, an 18-year-old right-hander, was expected to be the first overall pick in this year's Korean Baseball Organization draft, but he wanted to sign with a major-league team to start his professional career. And as director of international scouting Junior Vizcaino and senior advisor of Latin American operation Luis Silverio watched Shim pitch in South Korea, they were struck by the "God-given" ways he can throw a baseball.
"It had a little bit of a hop," Vizcaino said over Zoom. "It almost gives the illusion that it goes up instead of down because it has so much backspin and so much velocity behind it, it gives you that illusion. If we're seeing that, I'm sure hitters are seeing that."
Shim is the highest-rated prospect of the Pirates' class of 22 international free agents which was announced Sunday, which was the opening of this year's international signing period.
The full class can be found here:
Shim is touted by Vizcaino for his plus fastball, traits that can make him a middle or potential front-of-the-rotation starter and the aggressiveness and makeup that could make him a late-inning bullpen arm. A report from a league scout notes that the fastball creeps into the upper-90s and his curveball has a good shape and break.
Both assessments, along with MLB Pipeline naming him the No. 10 international prospect this year, provide a level of optimism for what he could be. And while Shim was heavily scouted and recruited, the Pirates eventually convinced him they were the right choice.
"What we were able to put in front of the family and talk about what we can bring to the table for him as a prospect and getting him to the big leagues was enticing to him, enticing to his dad, and they decided to come with us," Vizcaino said.
Shim is at least a few years away from being on the major-league radar, though he does appear to be more advanced that most new international signings. Vizcaino believes that getting him into the Pirates system and introducing routine will help his development.
Other notable pitchers include 16-year-old right-hander Carlos Castillo -- who also has starter traits, according to Vizcaino -- 18-year-old right-hander Bladimir Pichardo -- who has a power fastball and projectable secondary pitches -- and 17-year-old righty Carlos Mateo, whose fastball reaches the upper-90s.
“He has a power pitcher’s body with athleticism and aggressiveness on the mound,” Vizcaino said of Mateo.
On the offensive side, the Pirates signed outfielder Raymond Mota, who is rated as the No. 26 prospect in this class by MLB Pipeline.
The 17-year-old from Peravia in the Dominican Republic profiles as a corner outfielder with a projectable bat and power. While there were originally some comments about his body Vizcaino was impressed with his work ethic to get in shape.
He's listed at 6'2", 190 lbs.
"I was like, 'you've got to make sure you're in shape with your body coming in,' and he took it upon himself to do that," Vizcaino said. "We like Raymond because of his bat and his ability to square the baseball, his ability to drive the baseball. Really surprising for how he plays the game for such a young kid, just the way he runs the bases. Does some things, at his age, kinda tells you that he's advanced. The way he's thinking about the game, playing the game, aggressiveness. I was really happy with thinking about how he's going to develop into a pretty good ballplayer."
Other notable hitting prospects of this international class are 16-year-old Miguel Rodriguez -- who has the ability to play center and hit at the top of the lineup -- 17-year-old catcher Jonathan Rivero -- who has an athleticism and quickness behind the plate -- and middle infielder Antonio Pimentel, who is aggressive at the plate.
Perhaps "international" should be underlined. While most international prospects across the league tend to come from countries like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the Pirates' class this year includes players from those two countries and South Korea, as well as Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Aruba and Uganda.
The player from Uganda, 16-year-old right-hander David Matoma, is a potential power pitcher that can already reach the mid-90s. He's a find and a credit to the Pirates' willingness to look in different areas for players.
"I’m proud of our scouts," Vizcaino said. "We go after what we think are really the best prospects for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We're not signing kids from different countries just to fill a quota. We actually attack kids that we think are going to be good professional players and you're lucky to run into them in different parts of the world. Once we identify that kind of talent, we're not shy about going after them. We have the backing from Ben [Cherington] and [assistant general manager] Steve [Sanders], that once we do identify those traits, we're free a to go get them."
