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SHALIN POLANCO, CENTER FIELDER
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| Born: February 6, 2004 Height: 5’11” Weight: 168 Bats: Left Throws: Left Signed: Int’l Free Agent, 2021, Pittsburgh Pirates How Acquired: International Free Agent Country: Dominican Republic Agent: N/A |
WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE |
| Polanco was the Pirates’ top international signing during the 2020-21 signing period, which started January 15 due to the pandemic. He has a line-drive swing with the potential to hit for power. His speed and arm are good enough that he has a chance to stick in center field.
2021 Polanco got off to a rough start in the DSL, with a .440 OPS in July and .582 in August, striking out in a third of his ABs. He started coming around in September, batting 271/323/458 and cutting the strikeouts down sharply. He played center exclusively. 2022 In the FCL, Polanco primarily played center. His hitting improved some, but he remained very susceptible to breaking balls out of the strike zone. He seemed to be making a lot of progress in July, when he batted 319/373/511, but he slumped again in August and finished with numbers only a little better than the previous year’s. Oddly, Polanco had a very large reverse platoon split. On defense, he made a number of highlight reel catches. Polanco has considerable ability, but needs to make better contact to tap into it. |
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2023: Minor League Contract |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: $2,300,000 MiLB Debut: 2021 MLB Debut: N/A MiLB FA Eligible: 2027 MLB FA Eligible: N/A Rule 5 Eligible: 2025 Added to 40-Man: N/A Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| January 15, 2021: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an international free agent. |