Prospects from international pool drafted
The San Francisco Giants on Monday added 20 prospects to their organization, the top two from Venezuela, during the first day of Major League Baseball’s international signing period.
Catcher Yohendry Sanchez, 17, and shortstop Jhonny Level, 16, each signed for $1 million.
Both possess potential power and impressive arm strength. Sanchez has been compared with a young Gary Sánchez and Level, who’s a switch hitter, to a young Rafael Furcal. On mlb.com’s international rankings, Sanchez is 36th and Level 44th.
Giants assistant general manager Pete Putila called Yohendry Sanchez (6-foot, 207 pounds) “pretty physical with plenty of strength,” also commending his leadership skills and projecting him to become an above-average defender.
Putila described Level, who’s 5-10 and 154 pounds, as athletic with power from both sides of the plate and with a chance to stick at shortstop. “He has all the tools and skills to play shortstop. It’s more of a compact build, but pound for pound, really strong. A really solid profile.”
Of the 20 players the Giants signed (pending physicals) under international scouting director Joe Salermo, 11 are from Venezuela, five from the Dominican Republic and one each from Aruba, Brazil, Cuba and Panama. The list includes four pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders and six outfielders.
Three other players Putila highlighted were pitcher Argenis Cayama, who profiles as a No. 4 starter and has a mid- 90 fastball with a feel for a changeup and sweep to his slider; outfielder Oliver Tejada, a good contact hitter with impressive exit velocity and makeup; and catcher Santiago Camacho, a switch-hitter with good bat speed and catching skills.
The Giants have a $5.284 million base signing pool and, according to Putila, have enough left to add quality players.
The Oakland Athletics said they’ll release their list of international signings later in the week, but according to mlb.com, they agreed to terms with infielder Edgar Montera from the Dominican and lefty-hitting outfielder Jose Ramos from Venezuela, who rank 43rd and 47th respectively. Both are 17.
The A’s base signing pool is $6.52 million.
MLB’s international signings are hit and miss, just like players coming out of the amateur draft.
In 2015, the Giants handed $6 million to infielder Lucius Fox, who has delivered just two big-league hits in 10 games, all with the 2022 Washington Nationals. Three years later, the Giants gave $725,000 to Luis Matos, who played 76 games last season as a rookie and the outfielder is expected to further develop in the majors in 2024.
A year ago, the Giants’ top signee was outfielder Rayner Arias (now 17) from the Dominican, who signed for $2.8 million, the team’s largest international commitment since Fox. Arias was limited to 16 games in the Dominican Summer League because of a wrist injury. He has been invited to the Giants’ minor-league camp next month.
In the same international class as Matos, the Giants snagged infielder Marco Luciano for $2.6 million.