Nassau May PR - Salvador "Machine" Borbón

It's been a bit of a journey for Salvador to this point.  Back in 2021, Pocatello gave him a $1.6M signing bonus as a 17 year old out of Venezuela.  At that time, OSA had him with some raw power, but didn't project him to ever be able to hit.

He struggled in A ball as an 18 and 19 year old in the days of BSA before rookie league, and started to show a bit of promise by the time he'd reached AA Bismarck in 2024.  

Nassau took him with the 1st pick in the Rule V draft in 2025, and he languished on the major league roster through the season, slashing .152/.208/.217 in just under 150 PAs.  Before that 2025 season, the St. Louis GM sent out a PRlisting the worst players on each team at the time:

"Nassau- SS Salvador Borbon. Great Rule V pick. Not ready though, he's going to suck."

Bill was on to something, though.  After surviving the season, he was sent to AAA for 2026 and put up 5 WAR, hitting 33 HRs, and walking 113 times en route to winning the International League player of the year award.

Now in his second full season as a starting SS in the majors, Salvador's journey has put him at the top of all BSA shortstops in OPS, wOBA, and wRC+ through this point of the season, at .975.  He's a little bit behind Dave Craig of Baffin in WAR due to missing a couple weeks with a minor injury, but should receive serious consideration for this year's all star game if he can keep up his production.

Still only 24 years of age, the "Machine" is a key part of a Nassau team that is sitting at .500 through the end of May, with a flickering hope of sticking around in the wild card discussion for a few more months.