Forget barbeques or cookouts, nobody had a better July 4th than Jose Cuas.
The former Grand Street Campus star shortstop was in Toronto schmoozing with the Blue Jays while his friends were back in Brooklyn eating hot dogs and hamburgers.
“I worked out with the team, I hit with [Jose] Bautista and [Edwin] Encarnacion, I did a team stretch, I had my own locker,” said the 18-year old All-City second team selection by The Post. “I felt like a big leaguer. They made me feel welcome.”
Toronto flew Cuas up north of the border hoping to entice him. The Blue Jays drafted Cuas in the 40th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft and have been following him closely the entire spring. Cuas’ asking price, reportedly at $500,000, and his scholarship to Maryland, Toronto area scout Michael Pesce said, likely contributed to him going so late in the draft.
The American League East club has attended many of his summer league games and is offering him money befitting a single-digit round draft pick, Cuas’ summer-league coach David Owens said.
Whether or not the Blue Jays and Cuas can agree to a monetary figure, Owens feel it would be in his player’s best interest to go to college, where he can begin the next stage of his life with New York Grays teammates Harrison Bader and Kevin Martir.
“It was a very exciting day for him, but when it comes down to it I think he should go to school,” Owens said. “My feeling is that a couple hundred dollars isn’t going to be a life-changer; you go to school for the next 40 years, not for the next four years. It’s for the rest of your life. Going to college there are intangibles. It helps you mature from a young man into an adult.”
Pesce has followed Cuas for quite some time and has always been high on him because of his quick bat, defensive prowess, lanky 6-foot-3 frame and the projectability that will come.
“In a few years he can really put it together and be something,” Pesce said.
The money Toronto is discussing, Cuas said, isn’t quite at his asking price, but it is much closer than he expected it would be. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, there are penalties for teams who pay draft picks taken after the 10th round over $100,000 unless the team is under the money allotted to them in the first 10 rounds.
Toronto’s offer, Owens said, is closer to what seventh-round pick Andrew Velazquez of Fordham Prep received from the Arizona Diamondbacks, upwards of $200,000 plus money for his education, which was slated for Virginia Tech.
“They made it real tough on me now,” Cuas said. “It’s a huge surprise. I didn’t think we could get to this point, where I would consider signing.”
Cuas has until Sunday, the day he would start orientation at Maryland, before deciding which route he will take.
“If I feel the money is fair, I’m going to go ahead and take it,” he said. “It’s a win-win situation. I can go to college, play college baseball, go pro three years from now or sign and hopefully get to the big leagues in a few years.”