White Sox sign five international prospects on July 2

Out of the Luis Robert penalty box and with no restrictions on spending the $5,398,300 available to them, the White Sox announced the signing of five players who will receive six figures or more.

Starting with the most lucrative signing bonus:

• Yolbert Sanchez, SS, Cuba, $2.5 million
• Elijah Tatis, SS, Dominican Republic, $500,000
• Cristian Mena, RHP, Dominican Republic, $250,000
• Wilfred Veras, 3B, Dominican Republic, $200,000
• Erick Bello, RHP, Dominican Republic

Yolbert Sanchez headlines the group. Besides sounding like somebody said “Yolmer Sanchez” while battling a nasty head cold, he’s a 22-year-old, right-handed-hitting shortstop from Cuba who defected to Mexico via speedboat.

The $2.5 million is the most the White Sox have spent on a “normal” international prospect signing. They guaranteed Jose Abreu $68 million out of the gate and spent more than $50 million on Luis Robert when factoring in overage taxes, but Abreu would’ve been too old for bonus pools, and Major League Baseball closed the door on future Robert-sized signings with the hard cap.

That said, Sanchez isn’t a traditional international prospect where he’s 16 or 17 years old and was recruited since puberty. He’s already got a Baseball-Reference.com page, where it shows a .297/.338/.345 line with 21 walks to 38 strikeouts over 435 plate appearance. FanGraphs said his defensive game is ahead of his bat:

Compared to most other prospects acquired this way, Sanchez, who turns 22 in March, is less risky and should have a quicker timeline to the big leagues. […]

Sanchez draws mixed reviews for his offensive potential, but scouts agree he has above average-to-plus running, fielding, and throwing tools, and he will stick at shortstop.

Elijah Tatis is thus far the the biggest White Sox signing in 2019 among players on the normal international development arc. He’s the brother of Fernando Tatis Jr., who wasn’t ranked highly on any international prospects list when the White Sox got him.

For what it’s worth, the Spanish-language broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals said the elder Fernando Tatis holds Elijah’s tools in higher regard than his brother’s. Footage of Elijah in action can be found on his Instagram:

Along the same (blood)lines, Willfred Veras is the nephew of Fernando Tatis Jr., although MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez went away from the easy comparisons and likened him to Edwin Encarnacion. Signing a relative of a famous international prospect hasn’t yet panned out with Josue Guerrero, but with the trolling from Fernando Tatis Jr. as evidence, the White Sox are legally prohibited from trading Elijah Tatis or Veras. They can only non-tender them in their final arbitration year.

In between Elijah Tatis’ $500,000 bonus and Veras’ $200,000 bonus is Cristian Mena, who slides in at $250,000.

The White Sox list Mena as a 6-foot-2-inch, 170-pound righty, and less is known about him. There’s at least visuals of his actions…

… which is less than be said about Bello, who doesn’t even have a happy signing photo floating around. Based on the White Sox’ description (“a 5-foot-11, 170-pound right-handed pitcher”), there’s even more projection involved than usual.

The White Sox closed their press release by saying they expect additional signings in the coming weeks. Assuming the bonus for Veras is correct and that Bello signed for less than any of the above players, they’ll have a little less than $2 million to put toward that end.

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