PORTLAND, Maine -- What little chance Yoan Moncada had of blending in to his new community vanished three weeks ago when he showed up driving a BMW X6M Lumma widebody with a customized "YM" crest on the hood. Minor league towns don't usually see such big league wheels.
"Everybody was coming out and looking at the car," said David Hastings, Moncada's agent. "Every time we would stop for gas, or stop for directions, or stop at the hotel, anything, everybody was coming out and going, 'What is that? What is that?'"
There's a lot about Moncada that folks here haven't seen before.
It isn't that elite prospects don't stop in Portland, home to the Boston Red Sox's Double-A team since 2003 and a Florida Marlins affiliate before that. Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett played here. So did Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon (all in one season, no less). More recently, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts passed through downtown Hadlock Field on their way to Fenway Park. And Moncada was preceded by one month by the arrival of 2015 first-round draft pick Andrew Benintendi, who some talent evaluators rank ahead of Moncada as Boston's top prospect.
But none came with $31.5 million already in the bank. That's what the Red Sox spent last year to sign Moncada, a 21-year-old switch-hitting infielder who left Cuba 25 months ago. They also paid $31.5 million to Major League Baseball for exceeding their allotted international bonus money, but for a player of Moncada's talent, owner John Henry was willing to take the penalty.
So, if expectations for Moncada weren't high enough, they have been ratcheted up even more since his June 20 promotion to Portland, marking his arrival in baseball-crazed New England after spending last year at low-A Greenville (South Carolina) and the first half of this season at high-A Salem (Virginia). Now, at last, Red Sox fans can see with their own eyes what all the fuss is about.
And make no mistake: It's obvious.
Entering play Friday night, Moncada was 20-for-63 (.317) with three doubles, two triples, four homers, 14 RBIs, four stolen bases in four attempts and a .977 OPS in 15 Double-A games. He also hadn't committed an error at second base. On Sunday, he will join Benintendi in San Diego for the Futures Game, the annual showcase of baseball's most highly touted prospects.
Portland manager Carlos Febles will be surprised if Moncada isn't the best player there.
Last Friday night -- before Moncada lined a laser beam over the right-field wall, part of a five-RBI game in the finale of a doubleheader -- Febles said he's the most talented all-around player he has been around at the Double-A level since Carlos Beltran. Febles and Beltran were teammates in the Kansas City Royals organization, including in 1998 when Beltran batted .352 with 14 homers and seven steals in 47 games for Double-A Wichita. If anything, Febles says, Moncada is more daring on the bases, unafraid to run against any pitcher in any situation.
"If a guy was 1.3 [seconds to the plate], Beltran would not go," Febles recalled. "Moncada's the other way around. He says, '1.3? I'm going.' Moncada's more aggressive than Beltran. But I think if you watch Beltran hit and Moncada hit, they both kind of have the same setup at the plate. It's a very, very similar kind of guy.
"Carlos was fast, great arm, power. The guy could do it all, and he just kept getting better and better and better every year. You see Moncada with the same kind of tools that Beltran had. He's a guy that can go to the big leagues and hit 20 homers like Carlos did at the beginning of his career and steal more bags than Carlos. I mean, why not think about that?"
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Moncada insists he isn't thinking about much other than continuing to improve.
Switching positions from second base, where Pedroia -- recently labeled by manager John Farrell as the Red Sox's "de facto captain" -- is owed $77.5 million and signed through 2021? "That's on [the Red Sox]," Moncada says through the translation of pitcher Williams Jerez, adding he "will play any position depending on what the team wants me to do."
The possibility that the pitching-starved Sox could make him the centerpiece of a deal, either before the Aug. 1 trade deadline or in the offseason, for someone like Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez? "That's out of my control," Moncada claims.
Pressure to live up to the runaway hype associated with being a $63 million investment? What pressure?
"No, I don't feel any pressure," Moncada said. "I'm only here to play baseball and not think about anything else. I just come to the field, play every day, play my game and don't worry about anything."
Said Jo Hastings, wife of Moncada's agent and something of a surrogate mother since Moncada arrived in the United States: "I don't think he gets it. I don't think he sees himself as 'Yoan Moncada, top prospect.'"
But Moncada already is a big deal, especially in New England. Even before the signing became official in February 2015, David Hastings said he received e-mails from multiple Portland residents offering to let Moncada stay with them when he was promoted to Double-A.
Moncada appears to be enjoying his notoriety. After his Double-A debut, he hung around by the dugout to sign autographs for breathless fans. And he isn't afraid to flaunt his newfound riches. Moncada owns three vintage cars: a Lamborghini Huracan and two BMWs.
"I had a 12-year-old Toyota Siena, a van," Hastings said. "I kept telling him, 'You need this. This is what you need.' He would cringe. I think it's been a huge adjustment for him, coming from Cuba and not knowing anything about our traditions and our history and what's expected of him. And then throw in the money aspect, going from being totally dirt poor to extremely wealthy and having all the pressure of everybody wanting to be his friend, everybody wanting to fall in love with him."
Watching Moncada play, there's a lot to love.
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Two innings into his first Double-A game, Moncada made a diving play to his left. One inning after that, he ranged to his left again and threw across his body to start a double play.
It's no wonder Febles believes Moncada has the athleticism to play any position.
"I never imagined Mookie playing outfield and he's playing there now," said Febles, who played Betts as a second baseman in Greenville in 2013. "If the time comes for [Moncada] to go to the outfield, I don't see no reason for him not to be successful out there. Or third base. He's definitely capable of doing that."
And unlike many recent Cuban players who went directly to the big leagues, Moncada is learning the nuances of the game at the minor-league level. According to Febles, Moncada is "more refined" than some of the other Cuban players that didn’t spend as much time in the minors.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski proved he's willing to sacrifice prospects for the cause of winning now when he dealt touted center fielder Manuel Margot and three other minor leaguers to the San Diego Padres last November for closer Craig Kimbrel. But there's a sense within the industry that he would need to be overwhelmed to move Moncada.
"He's a very good offensive player," Dombrowski said. "He drives the ball; he hits for an average; he's walked a lot this year; he steals a lot of bases. Probably going to continue to learn the nuances of stealing bases. But he's a finely skilled offensive player. I'll be surprised if he's not a really good big leaguer."
Frankly, Febles would be stunned.
"I think he's going to be a legitimate big leaguer, an All-Star in the big leagues," Febles said. "I think he just needs to get some more games under his belt. Get a year and half, two years, and there's no doubt he's going to be an impact player in the big leagues."
And so, Moncada will continue to turn heads in Portland for reasons that go beyond his fancy car.