Photo by Luiggi Chavez for TalkNats
Here (pictured above) are 11 of the 14 new Washington Nationals prospects signed officially today as part of this International Free Agency class as reported by Anthony Puesán and @NationalsSource
Obviously, people know Juan Soto’s brother, Elian, who is signed in this class and well-known to Nats’ fans, but he isn’t part of this top of the class. Hector Gomez, a journalist in the Dominican Republic, reports that Elian received a signing bonus of $225,000 plus $200,000 for a scholarship grant which is $425,000 in total.
These signings include three Top-50 IFA’s per MLB Pipeline in this class that highlights the Nats’ Top-3 signings by the rankings are SS Manuel Cabrera ($500,000 signing bonus) and ranked #39 on the International Prospect list, OF Andy Acevedo ($1,200,000 signing bonus) and ranked #45, and SS Edwin Solano ($1,200,000 signing bonus) and the #46 ranked prospect.
Last year, the Nats signed the #2 IFA in that class as they inked 17-year-old Cuban outfielder Cristhian Vaquero, to a team-record $4.925 million signing bonus. That had been the norm for the Nats over the years to spend 80 percent or more of their IFA pool on one player. The year before that they did the same with shortstop Armando Cruz.
This year, because of their top prospect, Anthony Gutierrez, reclassifying to last year, and not having the available pool money to sign him in 2022, the Nats pivoted to signing more mid-level prospects than ever before in this IFA class. Gutierrez ended up signing with the Rangers last year.
This new class of prospects will all be part of the Nats’ prestigious Dominican Academy and should all be participating in the DSL this summer.
The Nats have a total signing pool of $5,284,000, and we are waiting to see if they spent the whole amount. General Manager Mike Rizzo’s international department is run by Johnny DiPuglia who was the scout that signed Juan Soto.
1. Andy Acevedo, OF, Dominican Republic
2. Edwin Solano, SS, Dominican Republic
3. Juan Obispo, OF, Dominican Republic
4. Elian Soto, OF, Dominican Republic
5 Hector Liriano, OF, Dominican Republic
6. Carlos Batista, OF, Dominican Republic
7. Agustin Marcano, C, Colombia
8. Manuel Cabrera, SS, Dominican Republic
9. Jose Feliz, RHP, Dominican Republic
10. Eikel Joaquin, INF, Dominican Republic
11. Leuris Portorreal, RHP, Dominican Republic
12. Carlos Tavares, OF, Dominican Republic
13. Juan Reyes, LHP, Panama
14. Enyerber Rivero, RHP, Venezuela
Graphic from @NationalsSource for TalkNats
