International Prospect Signing Rumors

[Enscheff]

Eh… there are plenty of busts but many of the best Latin players of the last 20 years were all bonus babies.

Vlad Guerrero Jr.
Miguel Cabrera
Wander Franco
Miguel Sano
Eloy Jiminez
Gary Sanchez
Tatis Jr
Juan Soto
Xander Bogaerts

I’m confident I can go tally up WAR/$ of Latin American players and prove a shotgun approach is a much better allocation of funds. Acuna himself at $100k probably wins the calculation. But until I’m bored enough to do it I suppose the debate will continue to rage.

[chop2chip]

I’m confident I can go tally up WAR/$ of Latin American players and prove a shotgun approach is a much better allocation of funds. Acuna himself at $100k probably wins the calculation. But until I’m bored enough to do it I suppose the debate will continue to rage.

I have no doubt you are right. But I was responding to your point that you could not think of a single international high bonus 16 year old that worked out.

[zbhargrove]

Excited to follow this guy:

[NYCBrave]

Excited to follow this guy:

There was a post earlier in this thread saying this kid was ranked top 10 by baseball america and fangraphs. I trust those sources over mlb.com rankings, but interesting to see the difference

[Tapate50]

Sign a bunch of them.

[Hudson2]

Why aren’t we signing more of these guys? I see the Mets and Nats signed like 3 each. With so many of our guys locked up right now and the farm in bad shape we need to be throwing as much money as we can into this.

[zbhargrove]

Why aren’t we signing more of these guys? I see the Mets and Nats signed like 3 each. With so many of our guys locked up right now and the farm in bad shape we need to be throwing as much money as we can into this.

Well, we have signed at least 3 others... they just aren't the big list guys. I'm sure we will have quite the large international class when all is said and done and most you will never hear of. We only have $5.2 million in our bonus pool and Guanipa likely took up around half of that.

https://tomahawktake.com/2023/01/15/...gnees-tracker/

[Buzzworm]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...signing-period


Wow
With that kind of money invested SD better hope he pans out

[Hulavol]

According to this, Elian Soto is only 17 years old…. I dunno why, but I somehow seriously doubt that -

[nsacpi]

For the second year in a row, the Braves’ top two international free-agent signings are Venezuelans, led by center-field prospect Luis Guanipa, who got a $2.5 million bonus Sunday, the first day of the international free-agent signing period.

Guanipa, 17, has drawn a lot of attention from Braves scouts since 2020 for his combination of strength and speed. He filled out and grew two inches, to 5-foot-11, during the time the Braves kept eyes on him. Guanipa bats and throws right-handed.

“He’s a pretty strong kid. In the U.S. they call them ‘country strong,’” Cruz said of Guanipa, who hails from the island of Margarita and once took with batting practice with Acuña, who is represented by the same agency. “(Cruz) has a wide back and a strong lower half. I don’t think he’s done growing. He’s still young. But he doesn’t need to grow anymore with his kind of tool set.”

Another Venezuelan outfielder, Carlos Monteverde, got the Braves’ next largest bonus ($600,000), followed by Dominican outfielder Jhon Estévez ($300,000) and Venezuelan pitcher Jeremy Reyes ($240,000). Guanipa, Montverde and Reyes, a converted position player, are 17; Estévez is 16.

The Braves landed 21 players on the first day of the period and divvied up the remainder of their $5,284,000 bonus pool.

A year ago, the Braves signed 14 players on the first day of the signing period, giving Venezuelan shortstop Diego Benítez a $2.5 million bonus and signing Venezuelan outfielder Douglas Glod for $1.3 million.

This year’s class of international signees has Cruz excited.

“More than previous classes, to be honest,” he said. “There’s a lot of hit-first guys, a lot of athletes. Frankly, we put in a lot of work on this group. And we’ve been able to align ourselves with the player development (department) to get the guys that they like to develop. So we’re excited with this class.”

Carlos Sequera, the Braves’ scouting supervisor in Venezuela, saw Guanipa play more than anyone in the organization. But Cruz estimated he also watched about 100 of the outfielder’s at-bats during his eight or so visits to see him, including on the island where Cruz is from.

Guanipa trained daily at the Margarita ballpark that’s home to a local professional team. “And he’s had a couple of days where he’s launched the ball outside of the entire stadium,” Cruz said.

https://theathletic.com/4097892/2023...shared_article

[50PoundHead]

Here's the whole list from a rival site: https://www.batterypower.com/2023/1/...signing-period

[Hulavol]

I suspect Guanipa is gonna get a LOT of hype around here in the coming 12 months…… the Venezuelan Acuna…..

[Hudson2]

I suspect Guanipa is gonna get a LOT of hype around here in the coming 12 months…… the Venezuelan Acuna…..

Acuna is Venezuelan lol

[Southcack77]

Benitez is thought to move off SS isn't he? Bigger kid?

Hadn't head much on Glod but interesting there have been so many OF. Maybe that's always the case.

[Deester11]

Benitez is thought to move off SS isn't he? Bigger kid?

Hadn't head much on Glod but interesting there have been so many OF. Maybe that's always the case.

Benitez /Tavarez may both move but the Braves feel Tavarez can stick at short. I'm excited about the bat potential of both. I'm also excited about Glod. He's built like Brian Giles..stocky..good setup in the box though. He's also got this Acuña thing going when he gets to third base after a homerun so there's that.

[CJ9]

I'm just glad we're back in on the big time international guys. And we've got a deal already in place for a top 3 prospect in Jose Perdomo next year. This system needs it so much.

[Super]

Acuna is Venezuelan lol

thatsthejoke

[zbhargrove]

Acuna is Venezuelan lol

Pretty sure that was the joke...

[Hulavol]

Acuna is Venezuelan lol

You ain’t from around here now are ya…

[thewupk]