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Dairon Cuevas snuck into the MLB Combine.
Former pro baseball player Dairon Cuevas went undercover to attend the MLB Combine. He impressed a scout before revealing his identity.
The stunt was designed for YouTube content by Arizona social media creator Dan Sarmiento. It was A+ entertainment for baseball lovers.
Sneaking into professional scouting and draft events is nothing new. Those that succeed play the part well. Did evaluators know they were being duped by Cuevas? One was certainly onto the ploy.
Who is Dairon Cuevas?
Cuevas a former pro shortstop in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. Hailing from the Dominican Republic, he was signed at the age of 16 years old.
The infielder spent six years in the minors, reaching AA in 2022. He was sent to the 60-day IL in 2023 and was released later that year.
He’s since turned to content creation. His YouTube channel has 20 videos and 157 subscribers. He has a larger following in Instagram and TikTok, with around 12.5k supporters.
This week, he teamed up with Sarmiento to “sneak” into the MLB Combine.
The group was invited to attend the event as part of a social media competition. “Scouts think they’re just watching a bunch of YouTubers compete for a video like we’ve done the past couple of years,” Sarmiento said. “What they don’t know is that one of us is a former elite prospect.”
Under the pseudonym “DJ Jackson,” Cuevas first took to the batting cage where he turned heads. He’s still got some pop!
“What are we doing here?” asked scout Sean Campbell after seeing the former pro take his first BP cut. Campbell is the Executive Director of the MLB Draft League with more than 20 years of experience as a player, coach, scout and senior director. He was immediately suspicious.
“Every swing that he took, he’s going opposite field to the middle of the cage. (Everyone else) is getting in there, jumping out, and getting around the ball.”
Clearly, Campbell knew that something was different about Cuevas. His suspicions would be confirmed the longer the training session continued.
MLB Combine scout gives feedback.
Dairon Cuevas took part in batting practice, broad jump, speed, and agility drills. He finished first in each. By the end of the video, Campbell knew something was up.
Sarmiento then revealed “DJ Jackson’s” true identity. Here’s what Campbell had to say about the performance.
“The way he hit, ball flight, hit a home run, best (agility performance). A pretty good last couple days.”
Campbell knew the name Dairon Cuevas as soon as he heard it. He provided further feedback at the end of the clip.
“(I figured out) after his first swing. Watching where his approach was from start to finish was different. I could tell immediately that it was a professional approach. Would be nice to see some game footage and what it looks like, but from a physical skills (standpoint), it was good.”
The video provided great content for Sarmiento’s 530k YouTube subscribers. And who knows, maybe we’ll see Cuevas suit up again in a professional baseball jersey.