Baseball fans can mainly remember two names, that of Cuban Cristian Vaquero, now with the Washington Nationals organization, and that of Dominican Roderick Arias, now with the New York Yankees.
Saturday marked the opening of the signing period for international prospects for the various major league baseball clubs. Thus, young players from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela, among others, are free to officially agree with a team.
If certain agreements are often made beforehand, it is on January 15 that the fate of several hopefuls is revealed who, unlike young Americans and Canadians, do not have to go through the major baseball draft.
The Nationals, which had an established budget of $5.18 million for this annual international recruiting, bet almost everything on Vaquero, a 17-year-old outfielder ranked second among the top international prospects, according to MLB.com, but first, d ‘after the famous magazine “Baseball America”. Nicknamed “Phenomenon”, the Cuban would have received an amount of $ 4.9 million as a signing bonus, according to various sources.
Presented as the number one prospect of this vintage on the Major League Baseball website, shortstop Roderick Arias, also 17, accepted $3.5 million from the Yankees. By way of comparison, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had agreed with the Toronto Blue Jays for the sum of $ 3.9 million against his rights in 2015.
A receiver with the Blue Jays
Speaking of the Jays, they were also active on Saturday. Receiver Luis Meza, originally from Venezuela, now finds himself with the Toronto organization. A signing bonus of $2.25 million was enough to convince the 17-year-old young man to rank 33rd among international hopefuls.
The Atlanta Braves, defending World Series champions and whose general manager is Quebecer Alex Anthopoulos, would have set their sights on a shortstop player from Venezuela, Diego Benitez, by granting him 2.5 million $.
.
