Diego Cartaya the Next Dodgers Breakout Star?

MLB.com’s Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo, and Mike Rosenbaum compiled a list of 30 prospects, one from each team who could be stars by 2023, so just in a few years. For the Dodgers they selected Diego Cartaya. A bit of a surprise but also not really. A lot of scouts are super high on Michael Busch, Bobby Miller, and Andy Pages but just a year ago all the talk was about catching prospect Diego Cartaya who was the top international prospect in the 2018 class. 

Diego was signed out of Venezuela in 2018 for $2.5 million. Diego Cartaya stands at 6’2 and has drawn comparisons to Royals long-time backstop, Salvador Perez. Salvador has been a really good catcher especially offensively for a long time so quite the comparisons for the young Cartaya. Cartaya has only had 1 year in the minors due to the Pandemic last year. In 2019 he was with Dodgers Mota of the Arizona Fall League and Dodgers Bautista of the Dominican Summer League. He combined to hit .281 while slugging .432 and an Ops of .775. Not bad at all for a 17-year-old. Unfortunately no minor league season for him in 2020 but he was at the alternate site getting in work with other highly profiled prospects. Cartaya is seen as someone who has “superb” contact skills, who has advanced pitch recognition for his age, he has raw power but it’s more gap power than home run power at the moment. 

On the defensive side, scouts say he is a great receiver, with good hands and framing ability, He has a high baseball IQ knows what pitches should be thrown in what counts to best help his pitchers. He handles the pitchers well which is very important as we just saw in the playoffs. Diego has a strong arm and pretty good accuracy especially for how young he is. He’s tall, has a large frame, and strong mechanical makeup which garners the Salvy Perez comparisons. 

Diego Cartaya is seen as someone who will be the best of the big 3 catchers between himself, Ruiz, and Smith. It’s difficult to see him as a star in such a short time just because right now he is blocked by Smith and for the moment Ruiz as well. It’s going to be interesting to see how he continues to develop. He is someone I’m very high on, scouts and the Dodgers appear really high on him as well. Hopefully, this season goes on without a hitch so Carataya can get more development. What are guys’ thoughts on the young Cartaya? Will he be a star in the next 2 years?