ST. LOUIS -- Delvin Perez, the 17-year-old Puerto Rican shortstop who fell to the 23rd pick in the draft after reportedly testing positive for performance enhancing substances, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Perez played at the International Baseball Academy in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. He will report to the Gulf Coast League, according to the team.
"It's been my goal, my dream, to get here. I woke up every day thinking about it," said Perez during a news conference on Friday.
The highly rated shortstop tested positive for an unnamed performance-enhancing drug in advance of the Major League Baseball draft held on June 9, according to multiple sources and first reported by Jon Heyman of Today's Knuckleball.