Chicago White Sox add 18 international free agents as class comes into focus
The current international signing period effectively opened on January 15 and the Chicago White Sox reached agreement with seven players, who they announced in a timely manner. The headliners of the class are teenage Dominicans Luis Reyes and Abraham Nuñez Jr. who both inked agreements worth $700,000.
Reyes, Cuban outfielder Rafael Álvarez and infielder Juan Uribe Jr. were both featured in the international preview article that was published at the beginning of the month. Here at SoxMachine, Jim Margalus highlighted some quotes from Marco Paddy on the first part of the 2023 signing class. Paddy noted that the organization had been scouting the 6-3, right hander for over three years now and lauded his power fastball. Reyes has a plethora of stateside experience and Paddy compared the 17-year-old’s development path to that of a high school pitcher in the United States going forward.
Nunez also participated in tournaments, mostly in the Dominican Republic and Paddy has seen him plenty of times in addition to other White Sox international scouts. The special assistant to the general manager lauded the outfielder for his speed and power with the ability to swing it from the left side. Uribe Jr. was called a “bat first prospect” but Paddy also compared the teenager to a young Jean Segura.
The Venezuelan contingent of this year’s international class has now been made official by the White Sox as well. We reported at FutureSox that the club was in agreement with Venezuelan catcher Angelo Hernández and Baseball America confirmed. Francys Romero reported the signing bonus amount for $500,000. It was made official as the backstop became the team’s largest financial commitment from the country this year.
The White Sox committed $1.235 million to 11 total prospects from Venezuela in addition to the seven who were previously announced. Within the group of 11 players, the club signed three catchers, three infielders, four starting pitchers and one outfielder. Catcher Stiven Flores ($250,000), infielder Javier Mogollón ($75,000) and right-handed pitcher Óscar Hernández ($75,000) received the largest bonuses after the country’s headliner.
Many Major League clubs spread their international pool around, preferring a higher volume of deals instead of a significant headlining piece that requires a large chunk of the finite bonus pool. The White Sox just haven’t been one of those clubs in recent years. Marco Paddy earned his skins with the signings of Jose Abreu, Luis Robert and Fernando Tatis. While the pelts haven’t been as promising of late, the international classes have frequently featured a relatively big bonus earning headliner.
In recent years, the organization has signed Cubans Oscar Colás, Yoelqui Céspedes and Norge Vera. Some of the lesser known players signed by the international scouts have matriculated stateside however and the White Sox’s international operation is rolling along solidly despite some questionable strategical processes. In the pre-season update at Baseball America, the crew decided on 13 international players to be included among the franchise’s top 30 prospects.
Infielders Bryan Ramos (Cuba), Jose Rodriguez (DR), Lenyn Sosa (Venezuela), Ryan Burrowes (Panama), Luis Mieses (DR) and Loidel Chapellí (Cuba) all signed for $500,00 or less. Right-handed pitcher Cristian Mena inked a deal for $250,000 and has ascended to become one of the best pitching prospects in the White Sox’s system. Outfielder Erick Hernández signed last year for $1 million out of the Dominican Republic while Wilfred Veras signed a few years back for $200,000.
Trusting the track record of Marco Paddy will be essential going forward and his most recent 18 player class will most likely spend the next year in the Dominican Summer League. The White Sox began the proceedings with $5,284,000 to spend in the international market. After their additions, $1.7 million remains in their coffers. Without a headlining piece to this year’s class, the money could still be spent.
“When you get an opportunity to sign an experienced guy that we feel has the chance to be an impact player in the major leagues, we’re going to take it,” Marco Paddy said. “Even though we didn’t get the older guy right now that’s close to the big leagues — there’s no one available at this point — but once we get an opportunity to get one of those guys and feel they have a chance to be a contributor, we can do that. In the meantime, we have to concentrate on the younger kids that have a chance to advance and get better and progress in our system. I think that we’re set up to not only accommodate those older guys, but we can do the same to the younger guys,” said Paddy.
With money to spend and any number of Cuban defectors certain to become eligible over the next 11 months, more additions could assuredly be on the way. The White Sox could also choose to trade the remaining bonus pool space to add system depth, accentuate the big league roster or save the ownership group some money but it wouldn’t be the most opportune use of limited funds. As one of the only clubs with pool space available in the current signing period, the White Sox should be seen as active in the international market going forward.
Very glad to see such a large signing class, and with more to come (I hope). I very much prefer this to them putting so much of their resources into older players who are basically hit or bust within a year or two.
“When you get an opportunity to sign an experienced guy that we feel has the chance to be an impact player in the major leagues, we’re going to take it,” Marco Paddy said. “Even though we didn’t get the older guy right now that’s close to the big leagues — there’s no one available at this point — but once we get an opportunity to get one of those guys and feel they have a chance to be a contributor, we can do that. In the meantime, we have to concentrate on the younger kids that have a chance to advance and get better and progress in our system. I think that we’re set up to not only accommodate those older guys, but we can do the same to the younger guys,” said Paddy.
This quote is not directed to the fans but to Jerry Reinsdorf.
I don’t mind that they have some money left seeing as there could be a few international players that could become available. I really hope they spend it! Even if they are just Lottery Tickets, spend it. Have 2 teams down in the DLS if required. Find out who can play. Just make sure they eat well, get good conditioning, help them with their education, and get good coaching. I would be fine if they said they put the money into improving the DLS conditions and coaching.
I too like seeing a larger class this year. It’s still by most accounts (BA/Pipeline, e.g.) a bottom-5 class, but a volume approach is essential and that simply hasn’t been what they’ve done, due to a lack of scouting and player development resources in international baseball. The International Scouting department is still one of the smallest in the league (basically just Paddy and a couple other guys), which inhibits the ability to not only scouting Latin amateurs, but also to scout other orgs’ DSL teams and discover throw-in prospects as a part of larger trades. But glad to see a larger class, let’s hope they get the training and investment they need.