Freddy Fermin becoming a big leaguer at all was a bit of an improbability.
The Venezuelan signed with Kansas City just past the All-Star Break in 2015 as an international free agent. He was already 20-years-old and Royals fans were surely thinking about different things when he put pen to paper.
The backstop didn’t play his first professional ball until he was 21, a late start for an international signing. He was nearly three years older than the average rookie ball player in 2018 at Burlington and again in A-ball as a 24-year-old at Lexington.
Despite the late start, Fermin crept through the Royals system, and by 2021, the plus defender was doing someone nobody had really expected: He was hitting.