Vladimir Gutierrez, a former highly ranked Cuban prospect with the Cincinnati Reds, has signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins.
Vladimir Gutierrez, a former highly ranked Cuban prospect with the Cincinnati Reds, has signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins.
According to Cuban baseball insider Francys Romero on social media:
According to sources, the Miami Marlins have signed Cuban RHP Vladimir Gutiérrez to a minor league contract and extended him a non-roster invitation to Major League camp.
Gutierrez, 29, has a career record of 10-12 and an ERA of 5.44. He did not pitch in the Major Leagues in 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he did complete 6.1 rehab innings.
As he progressed through the minors, he emerged as a significant prospect in their system, with Baseball America rating him among the top ten Reds prospects for three years in a row from 2017 to 2019. His popularity has dwindled since then, however. Before reaching the majors in 2020, he was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Nonetheless, he was added to the club’s 40-man roster to avoid being selected in the Rule 5 draft that year. He went on to play 32 games between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but had Tommy John surgery in July of 2022.
He has 117 strikeouts in 150.2 Major League innings and will compete for this opportunity with the Marlins. Because of Sandy Alcantara’s injury, the Fish figure to have one available position in their starting rotation.
Eury Perez, Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, and Edward Cabrera have secured the remaining seats.
