International Signing Day Starts With a Bang
He’s just 16 years old and thus you might not hear much about him for another 4-5 years after today, but this looks to be a big deal for the Atlanta Braves:
Braves Agree To Sign No. 5 International Prospect Derian Cruz http://t.co/4j1efcH3VD
— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) July 2, 2015
Subscribers to Baseball America can see more from this link, but here is what Ben had to (publicly) say about Cruz this morning:
"“The Braves have agreed to sign 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Derian Cruz, the No. 5 international prospect for July 2, for $2 million.“Cruz is an explosive athlete with plus-plus speed, with scouts projecting him to be an 80 runner as he gets stronger. He’s 6 feet, 165 pounds and will need to refine some things at the plate but he’s a switch-hitter who has shown solid contact skills. Cruz trains with Javier Rodriguez and Rudy Santin and has played in the International Prospect League.”"
We added more (see the link above) about Cruz in that earlier report. He is currently a shortstop – but then most top athletes at that age start at shortstop. The bigger ones go to the outfield. The slower ones to the corners. No word on where Cruz might fit in the long term, but there’s plenty of time for that.
But Wait, There’s More
Braves Agree To Sign No. 21 International Prospect Christian Pache http://t.co/vROIXlwm9Z
— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) July 2, 2015
Pache is a big (6’1″) kid who projects as an outfielder, possibly for Center Field. He had also been previously linked to the Braves. Signing bonus unknown, though I would expect something around $500,000 to $700,000 .
UPDATE: Jesse Sancehz is reporting for MLB.com that the bonus for Pache is $1.4 million (and that he was the MLB Pipeline’s #10-ranked player (#21 by BA.com).
NOTE: If this guess on Pache’s bonus is accurate, it means the Braves have over-spent their pool allocation, which is $2,458,000 for this signing period. Hence, this tweet from Mark Bowman:
With today's signings, the #Braves will attempt to make some trades to add approximately $1M to their int'l bonus pool to avoid penalties
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 2, 2015
That number would be exactly in line with the bonus overage that needs to be rectified.
Both Cruz and Pache are natives of the Dominican Republic. The DR and Venezuela dominate the lists of top internationals, though Venezuela is much more difficult to work with, given its political situation.
No Surprise, This
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We had previously written in these pages about Cruz and that the Braves were the favorites to sign him once the International market opened for 2015-16… that day is today. At that time, we had the MLB Pipeline rankings of the top 16-year-olds, and they had him listed at #21.
BaseballAmerica does its own research, and has determined their own rankings, with Badler writing the following about them:
"“…the premium players in the class separated themselves. The first three players on the list repeatedly came up as at or near the top of the class and were a clear first tier. The rest of the players in the top 10 also earned consistent praise, and while they all come with their own risks, these are all very good players.”"
And further:
"“While I’ve seen most of these players myself in person, these reports are at attempt to reflect industry consensus, to the degree that it’s possible.”"
BA.com has characterized this signing “class” as both talented and deep, though as we pointed out in May, it’s extraordinarily difficult to gauge a bunch of 15-to-16-year-old kids and what they will be in 8-10 years. Nonetheless, teams are trying hard to do exactly that, and are willing to throw millions at the players, their families, and their trainers to find the next Julio Teheran or Williams Perez.
There should be more news today on reports of international signings, and hopefully the Braves will be involved. This is the biggest one, though: the most evidently talented player linked to Atlanta.
If you’d like to know more about the complexities of the International market, please read this fascinating piece from Kiley McDaniel at fangraphs.com, which echos much of Ben Badler’s findings and explanations over the past few weeks and months. It’s truly a crazy thing.
More to Come Over Time
Projections from BA.com suggest that the Braves are getting poised to make a huge splash in the International arena next year as many big-spending teams will be on the sidelines under penalties that may prevent them from engaging with the vigor of 2014 and 2015. There are loopholes, however (McDaniel speaks of these), but certainly Atlanta has beefed up its resources, likely believing that this is the best way to insure a steady flow of talent for future years.
But for today: an excellent first step.