The Chicago Cubs have signed 23-year-old Cuban righty Naikys Piedra, who joins the 2026 International Free Agent class, and is reportedly headed to Arizona where the Cubs are currently working younger prospects through extended Spring Training.
Cuban right‑hander pitcher Naikys Piedra officially signed with the Chicago Cubs. At 23 years old, he reaches 96–98 mph and projects as a bullpen arm. Piedra will report straight to the Cubs’ complex in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/NMEM7A7Dkx
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) April 2, 2026It’s been quite a journey for Piedra, who first defected from Cuba back in 2019, was not able to sign with an MLB organization, and eventually went back to Cuba. From there, he was showcasing for teams back in 2024, and has been on the international prospect radar since he was 18. His only full year at the highest level in Cuba was back in the winter of 2023-24, when he was just 21 and the results were pretty ugly (25 ER over 43.1 innings, 38 K, 44 BB). Still, he’s been a well-discussed international prospect for a long time now.
All the more unusual for Naikys Piedra’s journey? He was originally reported as signing with the Cubs last summer. I don’t know why it took almost a year for the deal to become officially official, nor do I know exactly where/with whom Piedra was training during that time.
This is not unlike the situation with fellow Cuban prospect Jaims Martinez, who was reported to be signing with the Cubs a year before his deal became official in the subsequent IFA period (even though he was eligible to sign the year before (this is not the same situation as those handshake deals with players too young to actually sign)). I wonder if there’s just something unique about those situations that lead to the Cubs/the player punting the official deal for a year?
In any case, I expect that, even though Piedra is older and has some pro experience, this may be a bit of a development project for the Cubs.
To that point, reading the background, it sounds a bit like the stuff was originally not seen as quite there when Piedra was trying to sign the first time around, but he has since added significant velocity and that’s what tipped an organization over into signing him. The fact that it’s already being stated that he’s developing as a relief prospect makes me wonder if that was part of his own personal journey, too (i.e., giving up starting, converting to relief, seeing a huge velocity spike, and then generating interest specifically as a relief prospect).
As you can see, Naikys Piedra is a big dude, so I’m sure there’s some physical projection in there, too:
Pedra is a large adult male at 6-foot-3, 244 pic.twitter.com/FDbAhbzYUy
— Todd ⚾️?? (@CubsCentral08) April 3, 2026Although Piedra is much older and much more experienced than a typical IFA signing, he doesn’t qualify for the exemption (25 years old) and is still subject to the Cubs’ bonus pool. We know that most of the pool was used up early in the signing period, but certainly not all of it. I’ll be very curious to see what kind of money Naikys Piedra got from the Cubs, because that’ll indirectly tell us a lot about how highly they/the market are evaluating him.
The Cubs seem to be getting more and more into the Cuban market the last decade, and especially the last few years. As we’ve discussed before – including last summer with the Ronald Lazaro Mena signing – the unique situation for Cuban players means they are often signing outside the normal timetables (both in terms of the calendar and their age), and that presents the opportunity for clubs to pair a little extra scouting with more limited pools of available funds. You can find some excellent prospects that way, when they might otherwise be wholly unavailable if coming from another country (because they would’ve likely agreed to a deal years and years earlier).
Which brings me back to the point about his signing bonus: you have to take the number with a grain of salt at this time of year, because there just isn’t as much pool money available to try to gobble up. A $100,000 signing this time of year, as a reflection of talent, is more like a $300,000 signing on IFA day back in January. (That’s not a literal dollar for dollar translation, mind you, just an illustration of the point.)
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