Braves top international prospect selected to Dominican All-Star Game

Tornes is currently hitting .289 with 10 extra-base hits, good for an .821 OPS through 29 games in the Dominican Summer League. Despite not having yet recorded a home run, he’s already producing exit velocities well over 100 MPH, some ridiculous numbers for a kid that just turned 17-years-old.

The Braves gave Diego Tornes a $2.5 million signing bonus, the most they handed to any international player in this year’s class, and scouts have been raving about his potential ever since.

“I saw Diego with a big sledgehammer, slamming at big truck tires and just sweating all over his body,” Braves Latin American scouting directer Jonathan Cruz said back in January. “You start dreaming and thinking, ‘All right, don’t give up on this kid yet.’ We just kept going back and we saw him get better consistently, and now we’re pretty confident he’s going to play center field.”

“He’s lean, he’s athletic, he’s got size, and his swing is pretty short for the levers that he has,” Cruz continued. “We’re pretty excited, and I think he’s going to bring value the next couple years. It’s going to be pretty exciting to see.

Of all the Braves recent international signings, Diego Tornes is starting to really build up some serious hype, especially for a player so young. His development over the next several years will be fun to watch.