Yanks expected to sign Dominican outfielder and Cuban righty as international free agents

The 2018-19 international signing period doesn’t open until July 2nd, but already rumors connecting players to teams have surfaced. In reality, there are deals already in place. Verbal commitments are made months in advance, sometimes even years in advance. It’s against the rules but every team does it. It’s MLB’s open secret.

The Yankees have already been connected to Dominican catchers Antonio Gomez and Agustin Ramirez, and, according to MLB.com, the Yankees are also expected to sign Dominican outfielder Kevin Alcantara and Cuban righty Denny Larrondo. Alcantara, Gomez, and Larrondo are ranked as the 10th, 11th, and 29th best international prospects by MLB.com, respectively. Ramirez is unranked.

Here are pieces of MLB.com’s scouting reports on Alcantara and Larrondo:

Alcantara has above-average speed — he’s been clocked consistently in the 6.4-6.6 second range in the 60-yard timed run — and it shows up on both sides of the ball. Alcantara is also a gamer. He performs well at the plate in a live setting and projects to hit for more power in the future. Scouts also rave about his good bat speed and high contact ratio. He hits the ball hard and often tops the 100-mph mark in exit velocity.

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Overall, Larrondo is an elite athlete with a projectable body and a quick arm. He has tight spin on his emerging curveball, his second-best pitch. The teenager is an aggressive strike-thrower with a working changeup that is expected to improve once he signs with a team and receives daily instruction in a club’s academy … The right-hander has touched 94 mph with his fastball and usually sits in the 91-to-92 mph range.

Ready to feel old? Alcantara and Larrondo were born in 2002. 2002! Alcantara turns 16 on July 12th, so he won’t be eligible to sign on July 2nd, the first day of the international signing period. He’ll have to wait another ten days for his 16th birthday before he can put pen to paper. Larrondo turns 16 next month. Gomez is the old man of the bunch. He turned 16 in November.

The Yankees have a $4,983,500 bonus pool for the 2018-19 signing period, though Jesse Sanchez says the Yankees are “expected to be aggressive in the upcoming signing period,” which could mean they’re planning to trade for more bonus money. Teams can trade for an additional 75% of their bonus pool. The Yankees can max their bonus pool out at $8,721,125 this year.

Last year the Yankees aggressively traded for bonus pool space in anticipation of pursuing Shohei Ohtani, and when that didn’t work out, they shifted gears and signed other players with that money. The Orioles are notoriously inactive internationally, so don’t be surprised if the Yankees make some bonus money deals with the O’s. Last year they sent fringe prospects Matt Wotherspoon and Yefry Ramirez to Baltimore for $1.75M.