A bargain signing by Minnesota Twins, Ricardo Olivar of C.R. Kernels is legit prospect

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Minnesota Twins agreed to minor league free-agent contracts with 22 international players in 2019.

They spent $5.88 million on those contracts to guys mostly from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and one from Cuba. Outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, whom Cedar Rapids Kernels fans remember from last year’s Midwest League championship team, got the highest signing bonus of the group at $2.5 million.

Then it was Malfrin Sosa at $900,000, and Yonardy Soto and Joseph Yabbour at $550,000 each. All three of those players have been released by the Twins.

Way, way, way, way down on the list was a 17-year-old kid from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, named Ricardo Olivar. The comparatively paltry bonus he got to sign his contract was $20,000.

It appears to be a heck of a bargain.

Olivar hit two home runs Saturday night as the Kernels beat Quad Cities, 7-6, at Veterans Memorial Stadium and had an RBI single in the seventh inning Sunday that put C.R. ahead for good in a 5-3 win.

That continued a very solid month and a half of the Midwest League season for a guy who appears to be developing into a legit prospect.

“He’s the same guy every day. The work is really consistent,” said Kernels hitting coach C.J. Baker. “He accepts challenges instead of backing off of them. He nods his head, gets this smile on his face, wants more of it. He has really been able to trim the edges of the strike zone, knowing his strike zone and being able to capitalize on getting his pitch. When he gets it, he rarely misses it. Those are some of the big pieces for him.

“Just the consistency aspect has been massive. He works really, really, really hard.”

Olivar, 22, has a .292 batting average in 30 games for the Kernels with five home runs and 17 RBIs. His walk-to-strikeout ratio of 20-24 is solid and goes back to Baker’s comment about controlling the strike zone.

He had an eight-game hitting streak snapped Friday night, coming back for the two-homer game and this two-hit game.

“From my point of view, the biggest change I have made is changing up a little bit of my load before I swing the bat,” Olivar said, with the translation help of Kernels co-pitching coach A.J. Angulo. “I think I was a little bit late with some pitches early in the season, and that adjustment has made me feel better at the plate.”

Olivar was drafted as a catcher but also has worked in left field for Cedar Rapids. That’s a difficult defensive tandem to master but makes him more valuable.

He did not play the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, coming stateside in 2021 to play for the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Twins. Things did not go well, but he rebounded in 2022 to hit .349 and be named the most valuable player in the FCL.

He hit .285 in 100 games last season for low-A Fort Myers, with 28 doubles and 10 homers and was named a league all-star.

“2021 was hard for me, especially because the year before I didn’t play,” Olivar said, through Angulo. “I came here (to the States and the Florida Complex League) and was trying to do way too much. But in 2021, I played in the Dominican (Winter) League, and in 2022, I was told I was going to get the opportunity to play every day. That kind of relaxed me, and everything started going the way that I like it to be.”

MLB.com has Olivar ranked 21st among Minnesota’s top 30 prospects. Not too bad for a kid signed for $20,000.

“Individually, I just want to continue to do what I’ve done since last year, which is don’t chase pitches outside of the zone,” Olivar said, through Angulo. “That’s what I continue to work on. Hit the ball hard. Team wise, I just want to keep winning, keep piling them up so we can win a championship.”

“He controls the strike zone, and then when he does get a pitch in the zone, he gets a barrel to it and does some damage,” Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman said. “If you can catch and have at-bats like that, I think there’s always a chance for you to make your way up the (organizational) rankings and get to the big leagues.”

The Kernels (24-14) took all six games in this series and will carry a seven-game win streak into their series this week at Peoria. After Sunday’s game, it was learned starting pitcher Andrew Morris is being promoted to Double-A Wichita, and outfielder Willie Joe Garry Jr. has been released by the Twins.

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