FanPost

Eddie Silva with another 2-4 night for low-A Wisconsin

Just a brief profile piece on a low minors infielder who, by all odds, likely won‘t ever even get a whiff of newly mown grass at Miller Park.

At first, I saw this guy and thought, "Undrafted free agent just out of some lesser known D-1 Florida college. He can only hope to grow to have a face only a hometown fanbase can love, ala Nate Orf." He’s looked great in the very early going of his pro career, but could just as easily flame out as develop staying power in the organization. With little to no good scouting reports to go on and because I’ve become curious I looked a little deeper...

Silva graduated high school from Archbishop McCarthy HS, which has also produced current MLB players Nick Castellanos, Alex Avila and Danny Farquhar. As a SS, he finished high school in 2014 ranked #233 in state of Florida by Perfect Game, and won Gold Glove and Hitter of the Year honors. Apparently undrafted, Silva chose Florida International and worked his way to being a full time starter by the end of his Freshman year. As a sophomore, starting at 3b for FIU, Silva had a decent though uninspiring 293/.354./.401 with 18 doubles, 2 HR in 57 games. Then, just 13 games into his junior season, he suffered a Ulnar Collateral tear and immediately underwent Tommy John surgery.

Eddie worked through this adversity and was fully recovered and able to play nearly a full 2018 season at FIU in which he immediately found a new level of success. As a redshirt Junior, he finished with an OPS of 1.072 slashing .321/.386/.686 with 16 HR, 8 doubles, 1 triple and 48 RBI in 43 games as the team’s starting second baseman. He showed a good contact/power profile, solid defense and average speed. Silva was named Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week after hitting .600 with four home runs and 12 RBI in mid April and finished the year with Conference USA All-conference honors. Yet, he watched 1,214 players across 40 rounds go drafted without hearing his name called.

I don’t have information on what led Silva to sign with the Brewers on June 27th, but what I do know is that he was in a Helena Brewers uniform two days later, starting at third base and going 2-4 with two 2Bs. Silva, now 22 playing against younger talent, posted a .361/.410/.556 with 1 HR, 11 2B and 2 SB in 20 games, playing a respectable 3b and 2b before moving up to low-A. There, still slightly older than league average, we’re seeing more of the same in his first 8 games posting an OPS of 1.059 (.393/.452/.697) with another 2-4, 1 double, performance yesterday.

Clearly, going undrafted and having success against younger competition, Eddie has a lot left to prove to earn the serious attention of scouts and baseball writers (and chances are good he may never). But I, now even more, find myself rooting for this underdog to pull an Orf or better and surprise us all.