Many baseball experts had their eyes on Moncada back when he was just 17, playing for Elefantes de Cienfuegos in the Cuban National Series in 2012. However, even after playing 81 games in the United States, for the Class-A Greenville Drive in 2015, some of those same experts felt that others in the Red Sox minor league system were better assets.
Even Boston felt that Moncada was just not ready, seventh months ago, when Scott Lauber of ESPN, working for The Boston Herald at the time, reported that Moncada “wasn’t invited to big-league camp for spring training and is expected to open the season at Single-A Salem, three levels away from the majors.