Former SF Giants outfield prospect receives massive three-year deal in NPB

Former SF Giants outfield prospect Sandro Fabian is on the move after debuting with the Texas Rangers in 2024. He is set to join the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of the Nippon Professional Baseball league (NPB) on a three-year, $5.8 million deal according to Francys Romero and Mike Rodriguez.

Former SF Giants outfield prospect receives massive three-year deal in NPB

Rodriguez also reports that Fabian's deal includes $600,000 in incentives. It is a procedural move but the Rangers have already released the outfielder to pursue the opportunity overseas.

The Giants originally signed Fabian as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2014. He led the Giants' contingent during that cycle with a $500,000 signing bonus.

Interestingly, it was around that same time that the Giants signed Cuban outfielder Daniel Carbonell to a four-year, $3.5 million pact. He was declared a free agent by MLB, so his signing did not count against the team's bonus pool. Carbonell was released by the Giants organization in 2018 and only made a brief appearance above Double-A.

On the other hand, Fabian turned out to be one of the organization's top prospects in the late 2010's, ranking as high as the No. 8 prospect according to Baseball America in 2017. He was generally moved aggressively up the minor league ladder and treaded water against advanced competition.

This includes a solid 2019 campaign in which he posted a .766 OPS with five home runs and 33 RBI in 187 plate appearances with the San Jose Giants. At the time, San Jose was in High-A, so this was considered strong production for a player in his age-21 season.

Similar to many players, Fabian lost a year of development due to the canceled 2020 minor league season. He returned in 2021 to register a .763 OPS with 15 home runs in 313 plate appearances in Double-A. Fabian's power began to blossom as he matured, which was an unexpected surprise for an outfield prospect whose profile leaned more hit than power.

However, the right-handed bat reached free agency after that season and he has spent the last three years with the Rangers organization. His best minor league season came in 2023 where he slashed .288/.331/.523 with 23 home runs and 78 RBI in 480 plate appearances for Texas' Triple-A affiliate.

The Rangers rewarded him with a brief promotion in 2024 where he tallied five hitless at-bats and did finish the year on the 40-man roster. Now that he has been released, the young outfielder will head overseas where he will receive a sizable payday over the next three seasons.