The Miami Herald reports:

"Cuban baseball's brightest star, Dayán Viciedo, has escaped from Cuba and is now in Miami, following the footsteps of talented island colleagues who have found their way into the major leagues.

... 'Dayán is going to spark a lot of talk in the majors,' said his agent, Puerto Rican lawyer Jaime Torres. 'He has arrived with youth, he is very versatile and his conditioning is exceptional. We will soon see him wearing the uniform of a major league team.'

Torres added that Viciedo reminds him of Boston Red Sox star Manny Ramirez."

Viciedo is a 19-year-old 3Bman who is 6-2, 202 ... he also can play shortstop and outfield.

Interesting, and, nowadays, Manny seems to be the Latin stud du jour to compare young potential Latin studs to. Was it Pedro Alvarez that they were also comparing to Manny? I guess the Cuban guy's agent wouldn't be comparing him to Julio Lugo, would he.

Yeah, IIRC Julio Guerrero (Vlad's brother) once was compared to Manny ... and Pedro Martinez once compared Tony Blanco to Manny. It's supremely unfair to both Manny and the player to draw the comparison, but I understand why they are made ... particularly by the agents – they're trying to make money, afterall.

That does remind me of Manny.

of course his agent's gonna talk him up.
that's hardly an objective scouting report.

and the last couple Cuban defectors who were supposed to be great were Kendry Morales and Ariel Prieto.

so I'm not too excited.

EDIT: forgot about Contreras, who I guess is a serviceable 10-win-a-year guy... so 1 out of 3.

so lets see ... they say he is 19, so I guess that makes him what? 27? 28?

And he landed on U.S. soil. Doesn't that change his eligibility for Free Agency? I always thought it was better to defect to another latin american country that is free and clear of the amateur draft.

Here he is taking batting practice earlier this year...gotta admit he does look a bit older than 19...