Orioles IFA Signings Thread

[ISU94]

Update: (as of Aug 20):

The Orioles on Monday announced they have come to terms on a deal with international outfield prospect Isaac Bellony, a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic. Bellony, who was born in the Virgin Islands, signed for $220,000, per MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez.

"Bellony is a young switch-hitting center fielder with power, speed and a strong arm, who was recruited by several clubs," Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said in a statement released by the club. "We look forward to helping him develop into a Major Leaguer."

"I'd say two words, '[Jonathan Schoop],'" manager Buck Showalter said, referring to the O's last homegrown international big leaguer, who was dealt to Milwaukee at the non-waiver Trade Deadline. "It's exciting for us if that [is] the case, it's not like we haven't signed anybody. ... Just look around the rosters of baseball, it's pretty obvious. Just watch All-Star Games, just do the percentages, it's obvious that that's a part of the industry that you need to be involved with if you can."

The O's have also signed Dominican Republic shortstop Moises Ramirez for $225,000 and outfielder Damien Valdez, also from the Dominican Republic, for $200,000. Additionally, they signed J'Rudjeanon Isenia, a center fielder from Curacao, for $125,000. Smaller deals include pacts with right-handed pitchers Carlos Del Rosario and Kelvin LaRoche of the Dominican Republic. The Orioles have an estimated $7.5 million in bonus pool left to spend on international prospects, more than any other team. They could be preparing to make a run at Cuban outfielder prospect Victor Victor Mesa, when he becomes a free agent and eligible to sign.

Baltimore began the signing period on July 2 with $5,504,500 in bonus pool money, and it received an additional $2.5 million in the Kevin Gausman trade with Atlanta and another $250,000 from the Braves for reliever Brad Brach. The Brach deal last month represented the first time in the organization's history that it traded for international signing money.

[MurphDogg]

 

[ISU94]

1 minute ago, MurphDogg said:

 

Looks like a big kid.

[Flacco Machado]

2 minutes ago, ISU94 said:

Looks like a big kid.

Yeah, he does! Holy moly!

[sportsfan8703]

Is he ranked on any lists?  How much did he sign for?

[ISU94]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Is he ranked on any lists?  How much did he sign for?

Don't think he was ranked. No #'s as far as $$$ goes either.

Again though, rankings are great and all but these are 16 yr old kids. There's lots of small signing guys every year that end up being a serious hit every year. Just like some of the top/ranked guys disappear and never work out. 

[joelala]

Looks like a nice little swing.  Exciting!

[joelala]

And the name Moises has some great MLB history

[stef]

19 minutes ago, ISU94 said:

Looks like a big kid.

By “big” do you mean “old”?  

[MachoMachadoMan]

Loved the swing at around 4:30 on the video. Pitcher came inside, he pulled his hands in really close and smacked it up the middle, to the right side of the the bag. 

Looks like he got big quick. The beginning of the video is October 2017 and the end of the video is Feb 2017, and you can see how much bigger he is between those two clips. Wonder how big he is now.

[Bonecrusher52]

Come to daddy Victor Victor!

[joelala]

19 minutes ago, joelala said:

Looks like a nice little swing.  Exciting!

Drops the back elbow though a little bit, but hopefully that's a pretty easy fix.  And from the video, his arm doesn't look great.  Still I'm ecstatic that we are actually signing these kids now!

[Aristotelian]

14 minutes ago, joelala said:

Drops the back elbow though a little bit, but hopefully that's a pretty easy fix.  And from the video, his arm doesn't look great.  Still I'm ecstatic that we are actually signing these kids now!

Had some issues catching the ball cleanly, although some of that could be whatever surface they were playing on down there.

[jcarm]

How can they have signed someone when they do not have a presence there? (sarcasm)

[Aristotelian]

24 minutes ago, jcarm said:

How can they have signed someone when they do not have a presence there? (sarcasm)

They're just signing kids off the street!