Major League Baseball threw the book at the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, and the loss of one of their top prospects is part of it.
Infielder Kevin Maitan, a 17-year-old Venezuelan that the Braves invested upwards of $4 million in signing, was one of 12 Atlanta prospects immediately declared a free agent by the league.
BREAKING: Star prospect Kevin Maitan is one of 12 Atlanta Braves minor leaguers expected to be declared a free agent after league investigation, sources tell Yahoo Sports. In addition, Braves will suffer significant restrictions in 2019-20 and 2020-21 international FA classes.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 21, 2017
Maitan was a consensus top-100 MLB prospect, with the official MLB.com rankings putting him the highest at No. 32. He immediately becomes free to sign with any team, though the money to sign him will still have to come out of a team’s international bonus pool.
The young infielder is, of course, a long way away from reaching the big leagues — he didn’t put up particularly big numbers in rookie ball, where he spent 2017 amid conditioning concerns. His future is likely at third base, and he has the potential to be a solid hitter and a fearsome power bat if he can put it all together.
The loss of Maitan is far from the only punishment levied against the Braves, who more or less got baseball’s equivalent of a death penalty for illegally circumventing international signing restrictions.
