The Pirates made a splash to open the new international signing period Saturday, inking two of MLB Pipeline’s top 12 prospects and 19 players overall.
Per a source, the Pirates have signed outfielder Tony Blanco Jr. (ranked as the No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline) for a $900,000 bonus, and shortstop Yordany De Los Santos (No. 12) for $1.2 million.
The Pirates have a bonus pool of $6.262 million, making them one of eight teams with the largest available pools.
The team officially announced the signings of their class, which consists of 19 players thus far, Tuesday:
Meet our newest Young Bucs!
— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) January 18, 2022
We have signed 19 players for the current 2021-22 international signing period. pic.twitter.com/GnqvTPDiga
By spending over one-third of their total bonus money on Blanco Jr. and De Los Santos, the team is banking on the two 16-year-olds’ high upside.
Blanco is a 6’5”, 230 lbs. right-handed corner outfielder who MLB Pipeline described as having 40-home-run potential. His father played one year in the majors with the Nationals in 2005, before going on to have a lengthier playing career in Japan.
“We see Tony as a middle-of-the-lineup type hitter who will drive the baseball with power," Pirates director of international scouting Junior Vizciano said in a team statement. "Defensively, Tony has a true right fielder’s arm and is athletic enough to close the outfield gaps defensively.”
Until recently, Blanco was expected to sign with the Rays, but reports came out earlier this month that the Pirates had outbid them late in the process.
De Los Santos is listed at 6’1”, 170 lbs. He broke out and emerged on the prospect scene after several months away, when scouting was shut down at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. MLB Pipeline writes that he could potentially need to make the switch to third base defensively, but he has a nice package of offensive tools and has plus arm-potential.
“Yordany is an athletic, physical shortstop with the tools to be a plus defender and hit in the middle of the lineup," Vizcaino said. "He has the makeup to be a leader on the field and in the clubhouse.”
According to Jesse Sanchez of MLB Pipeline, the Pirates have signed five other players to a bonus of over $300,000: right-handers Pitterson Rosa ($700,000) and Huang-Leng Chang ($500,000), outfielder Eduardo Oviedo ($450,000), catcher Axiel Plaz ($350,000) and shortstop Rionny Aguiar ($315,000).
While this is a hitter-heavy year in general among the top international prospects, the Pirates spoke highly of Rosa and Chang as well.
“Pitterson is a strong, athletic right-handed pitcher with a very clean delivery and feel for pitching,” Vizcaino said. “He has shown us the ability to command his secondary pitches and has touched 94 miles per hour with the fastball already. Pitterson’s parents are from the Dominican Republic, but he was born in Puerto Rico. We see him as having qualities to be a successful Major League starter.”
Chang is from Taiwan, and is the second pitcher the Pirates have signed from there in the last three signing periods, the other being Po-Yu Chen in 2020.
“We are very excited with the opportunity to bring Hung-Leng Chang into our organization,” Pirates assistant director of player personnel Max Kwan said in the team's statement. “Over the last few years, he has continued to improve in all facets of his game. Hung-Leng possesses a lot of the characteristics we value, including his body movement, ability to spin the baseball and his competitiveness."
General manager Ben Cherington has not shied away from these larger signings in the international period during his three offseasons as Pirates general manager. In 2020, he traded for more bonus pool space to sign Chen for $1.25 million and outfielder Solomon Maguire for $594,000. Last year, outfielder Shalin Polanco signed for $2.35 million, the second-largest bonus the Pirates have ever given an international prospect.
Like they did last year for the international signing period and the amateur draft, the Pirates are expected to spend their entire bonus pool.
For the second consecutive year, teams will not be allowed to trade pool space. Signing periods used to start July 2, but were pushed back to Jan. 15 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baseball America is keeping tack of other signings throughout the league in their international tracker.
