8 Teams With Strong Returns From Their 2024 International Signing Classes
Image credit: Leodalis De Vries (Photo by Bill Mitchell)
It takes much more than a year to be able to measure the ultimate quality of a team’s international signing class. But after one season, there’s a lot of new information we have to be able to judge the early returns on how each team’s 2024 international signing class is shaping up.
Teams reach agreements to sign international players when they’re 13 or 14—sometimes younger—and while they can closely monitor the progress of their own commits up until signing day, getting into public, professional games in the Dominican Summer League reveals a new layer of information that bring our evaluations of those players into sharper focus.
The international signing period opened this year on Jan. 15 and still remains open until Dec. 15. Now that these players have finished their first minor league season, we’ll take a look at eight teams whose 2024 international signing classes have produced strong early returns.
Milwaukee Brewers
The signing of Jesus Made alone would make it a strong class for the Brewers. Made, the top prospect in the Dominican Summer League, signed for $950,000, and once on board, the switch-hitting Dominican shortstop showed an exciting blend of hitting ability, strike-zone judgment, bat speed, power and athleticism with physical projection arrows pointing up. Made hit .331/.458/.554 in 216 plate appearances with six home runs, 39 walks and 28 strikeouts with 28 stolen bases in 32 attempts and is now a Top 100 prospect.
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Milwaukee’s 2024 international group also shows promise beyond Made. Dominican shortstop Luis Peña, signed for $800,000 and had an even higher OPS than Made, as he hit .393/.457/.583 in 184 plate appearances with one home run, 15 walks and 15 strikeouts. Peña will need to develop a more selective approach, but he had just an 8.1% strikeout rate and showed his plus-plus speed by swiping 39 bases in 43 attempts for a 91% success rate.
Milwaukee’s biggest bonus this year went to Venezuelan shortstop Jorge Quintana, who signed for $1.7 million. Though he hit just .250/.361/.380 in 238 plate appearances, Quintana showed a patient approach and simple swing from both sides of the plate. The most encouraging part of his season were the strides he made defensively. While Quintana once looked like a high-probability bet to shift over to third base, he defended his position well this summer, showing smooth actions, good body control and surprising range for a player who doesn’t have elite first-step quickness.
A pair of lower bonus signings also boosted their stock this year, most notably outfielder Jose Anderson, who signed for $60,000 out of the Dominican Republic. Anderson showed big righthanded power en route to hitting .283/.403/.512 in 201 plate appearances with eight home runs. His power comes with some swing-and-miss, but he has kept it to a manageable level. And while he played center field in the DSL, he’s probably headed for a corner soon.
They also signed an intriguing sleeper, Venezuelan shortstop Juan Ortuno, for $27,500. He’s a smaller, scrappy player (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) with advanced instincts for a 17-year-old. A righthanded hitter, Ortuno batted .344/.464/.481 with more walks (29) than strikeouts (27) in 192 plate appearances. His bat-to-ball skills and swing decisions stand out, though he doesn’t have much power. He played nearly everywhere this year—shortstop, second, third, first and left field—mostly because the Brewers had a crowded infield group in the DSL, but he projects to stick in the dirt.
San Diego Padres
The Padres put nearly all of their international bonus pool money toward signing switch-hitting Dominican shortstop Leodalis De Vries for $4.2 million. De Vries was the best international prospect in the 2024 class and now is in the conversation with catcher Ethan Salas to be the top prospect in the Padres’ system. De Vries came as advertised, playing 75 games in Low-A Lake Elsinore as a 17-year-old and batting .238/.361/.442. He got especially hot in his final 40 games, batting .275/.400/.563 with all 11 of his home runs on the season coming during that stretch.
De Vries alone would make for a great return on their 2024 class, but don’t sleep on Mexican righthander Humberto Cruz. The Padres needed more pool space to be able to sign Cruz for $750,000, so they traded Blake Dickerson—a high school lefty they signed for an over-slot $500,000 deal as a 12th-round pick last year—to the Tigers to do so. Cruz barely pitched this year in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, but when he was on the field, the jump in stuff he showed was exciting. Cruz has a starter look between his delivery, arm action, pitchability and repertoire, and after touching 93 mph prior to signing, he was up to 97 this summer. He throws a short, tight slider at 82-86 mph that he spins in the 2,400-2,500 rpm range and generates a ton of fade on his lively changeup that has good separation off his fastball.
St. Louis Cardinals
Yairo Padilla could end up one of the best Latin American shortstops the Cardinals have signed in a long time. The Cardinals signed Padilla out of the Dominican Republic for $760,000—their top bonus this year for a position player—and he hit .287/.391/.404 in 35 games in his pro debut. Padilla is a long, lean switch-hitter with good balance at the plate. He tracks and identifies pitches well, letting the ball travel with the ability to stay within the strike zone and make contact at a high clip when he does swing. Though it hasn’t translated to big power yet, Padilla makes consistent quality contact, and he has the strength projection to grow into above-average power.
Catcher Rainiel Rodriguez already has big power. He led the DSL Cardinals in nearly every hitting category and ranked second in the league in both slugging and OPS, as he hit .345/.462/.683 in 184 plate appearances. He drew more walks (30) than strikeouts (25) and tied for fourth in the league with 10 home runs. Rodriguez is an offensive-minded catcher with huge raw power for a 17-year-old.
The Cardinals’ class also included Dominican righthander Branneli Franco, whose $800,000 bonus was the highest of the year for a Latin American pitcher. A 6.16 ERA with a 37-24 K-BB mark in 38 innings doesn’t stand out, but Franco at just 17, he has a power arm up to 97 mph with more to come as he fills out his projectable 6-foot-3 frame. He also showed feel for a slider that he switched to this year from a curveball and shows promise with its ability to generate empty swings with long, lateral break.
Cleveland Guardians
Venezuelan shortstop Gabriel Rodriguez signed for $500,000 and ranked second in the DSL in OBP by hitting .269/.506/.398 in 163 plate appearances. Rodriguez is an extremely patient hitter—to the point where he could be a little more aggressive—with good bat control from a short, quick lefthanded stroke. He’s a smart, instinctive player with good actions on both sides of the ball, though he will need to get stronger to be able to do more damage on contact.
The Guardians also got a big year from Venezuelan outfielder Juneiker Caceres, who hit .340/.425/.504 in 167 plate appearances with a 10.8% strikeout rate. That’s from a player who only turned 17 on August 15, so he played nearly the entire DSL season as a 16-year-old. Caceres showed some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the DSL this year, using an aggressive approach but rarely swinging and missing at stuff in the strike zone. At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, Caceres isn’t that big and mostly played the outfield corners, but there’s surprising power for his size despite not homering, as evidenced by consistent high exit velocities that reached 108 mph.
Cleveland’s top bonus signing this year, Dominican center fielder Robert Arias, got $1.9 million and is another high-contact lefthanded hitter. Arias hit .247/.367/.347 in 180 plate appearances—not the most exciting slash line—but he struck out in just 8.3% of his trips to the plate. He has a keen eye for the strike zone and good bat control of an unconventional swing, something he might have to adjust and add strength to in order to do more damage against better pitching. He’s an above-average runner with a plus arm.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants came away with a good mix of talent around the diamond in their 2024 class. Venezuelan shortstop Jhonny Level, who signed for $997,500, got off to a rough start but ended up tied for fourth in the DSL with 10 home runs, as he hit .275/.393/.517 in 215 plate appearances. Level is a 5-foot-10 switch-hitter who stood out for his hitting ability and high baseball IQ as an amateur, while significant strength gains over the past year and change have also led to a power boost.
The Giants also signed Venezuelan righthander Argenis Cayama, one of the best pitching prospects in the DSL, for $147,500. Cayama had been training as an outfielder before he moved to the mound and drew the attention of the Giants as an athletic righthander up to 91 mph. In the DSL, Cayama touched 96 mph and generated a high dose of swing-and-miss with his low-to-mid 80s slider, finishing the year with a 2.59 ERA, 29 strikeouts and nine walks in 24.1 innings.
Catcher Santiago Camacho, who signed out of Venezuela for $277,500, drew praise from scouts for his hitting ability and receiving skills as an amateur. He delivered on those reports, hitting .363/.507/.549 with 28 walks and 21 strikeouts in 138 plate appearances while showing a disciplined approach from both sides of the plate with feel for the barrel and gap power. Yohendry Sanchez, a Venezuelan catcher the Giants gave $1,397,500—their top bonus of the year—hit .241/.489/.448 in a limited run of just 12 games.
Dominican outfielder Oliver Tejada was another promising hitter the Giants added this year. Signed for $147,500, Tejada hit .300/.405/.488 in 205 plate appearances and showed big righthanded power in his stocky 5-foot-11, 180-pound frame with exit velocities up to 107 mph.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers are here mainly because of one player: Emil Morales. The physical 6-foot-3 shortstop from the Dominican Republic signed for $1,897,500 and went on to win MVP of the DSL, hitting .342/.478/.691 in 201 plate appearances. He led the league in slugging, OPS and home runs (14). There is some swing-and-miss to Morales’ game that could get revealed against better pitching, but the maturity of his approach and potential to hit 25-plus home runs stand out for a player who projects to play somewhere on the left side of the infield.
Baltimore Orioles
Elvin Garcia could be one of the best shortstops the Orioles have signed out of the Dominican Republic in many years. For a team that spent decades being a non-factor in Latin America, that might be a low bar to clear, but Garcia is a talented prospect on the rise since signing for $500,000. He hit .294/.439/.505 with 27 walks and 25 strikeouts in 139 plate appearances, showing a good blend of hitting ability from both sides of the plate, sound strike-zone judgment and gap power that should grow as he fills out his lean 6-foot-2 frame. He’s an athletic shortstop with plus speed and arm strength to go with smooth defensive actions.
The Orioles also signed Dominican righthander Esteban Mejia for $175,000, and he continued his up-arrow ascension towards being one of the top pitching prospects in the DSL. Mejia signed with a fastball that touched 93 mph, but as he has begun to fill out his lanky 6-foot-3 frame, his velocity has taken off. Mixing four- and two-seam fastballs that he throws from a low release height, Mejia parked at 91-96 mph in the DSL and reached 98. Mejia’s fastball is his best pitch, though he will flash feel to spin a short slider in the 2,400-2,600 rpm range and a mid-to-upper 80s changeup. He finished with a 3.25 ERA in 27.2 innings with 44 walks and 15 strikeouts.
Texas Rangers
We could pick a bunch of different teams for this last spot, but let’s highlight the Rangers and their class, which is headlined by a pair of position players in the middle of the diamond. One is Yolfran Castillo, who spent just 20 games in the DSL and hit .414/.552/.471 before the Rangers bumped him up to the ACL. Castillo, signed for $647,500 from Venezuela, combines a patient approach with outstanding contact skills. He struck out at just an 8.2% clip in the DSL and a 9.2% clip overall this year, drawing nearly twice as many walks (27) as strikeouts (15). The red flag in his offensive game right now is that he has minimal power, but he’s also 6-foot-3, 165 pounds with a ton of space left to layer on strength. He’s a plus runner who also looks like a good bet to stick at shortstop, where he has good instincts and an above-average arm.
The top bonus Texas gave this year went to Dominican center fielder Paulino Santana, who got $1,297,500 and hit .292/.465/.364 with 52 walks and 38 strikeouts in 260 plate appearances. It’s a short righthanded swing with a patient approach, which led to a high OBP in the DSL. The raw power he has flashed in BP hasn’t translated in games, so there will likely have to be an approach or swing adjustment to be able to tap into more of that power against live pitching. He’s an athletic center fielder with plus speed.
