January 15, 2021 International Signing Period (was 7/2/20)

[andyb]

Not much info but one of the KBO sites confirms our Korean prospect exists:
https://twitter.com/MyKBO/status/1356726052240859139

[fish]

Not much info but one of the KBO sites confirms our Korean prospect exists:
https://twitter.com/MyKBO/status/1356726052240859139

Is it me, or does every pitcher in Korea have the same delivery?

[andyb]

It took Japan some time to diversify their instruction. I am a little disappointed he seems on the short and stocky side (nowhere near as bad as Seung Lee) than the tall and lanky projectible side. It is not like we had much money left beyond the bonuses we know, so I assume everyone yesterday announced was of the $100K or less variety. But still, the 2 $20,000 UDFAs from high school we signed after the draft probably have more promise. One of them was posting higher velocities from one of the performance academies too a few weeks ago.

[andyb]

Time to fire up this thread for what looks to be a minor signing in February of a Dutch/Curacao prospect (listed as an infielder) named Arquedion Muller.

Curaçao Prospect League on Facebook Watch

https://www.rbicuracao.com/stats/team_instance/3920307?subseason=548894&tab=team_instance_player_stats&tool=3332478

Led his junior team in walks and stolen bases! No idea what it means of course. Birthday in June of 2004 so he is still 16.

[bkox]

I don't have anything other than a name, but the Phillies have signed 18 year old Taiwanese infielder Hao Yu Lee and assigned him to the FCL Phillies (formerly GCL Phillies)

— Matt Winkelman ( @Matt_Winkelman ) June 15, 2021

Well I have more than a name, see other retweets. Infielder with good exit velocities. Bonus per other retweet is $600k-$650k https://t.co/1RynA7oPhU

— Matt Winkelman ( @Matt_Winkelman ) June 15, 2021

[andyb]

Some video in this tweet:
https://twitter.com/sung_minkim/status/1169458130469584896

It is going to take a while to learn to refer to our complex team as the FCL Phillies.

[julio]

Updated list of all (known to me) international signings (I don't have most birthdates/age, or signing bonuses, so I've excluded those columns):

Player	Position	Signed	Nationality
Alderete, Alfredo	SS	2/2/21	Panama
Andrade, Dervin	C	2/2/21	Venezuela
Cabrera, Deivi	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela
Flores, Yemal	OF	2/2/21	Dominican
Garcia, Jorge	OF	2/2/21	Panama
Garibaldi, Jesus	LHP	2/2/21	Mexico
Heredia, Raylin	OF	2/2/21	Dominican
Heureaux, Julio	SS	2/2/21	Dominican
Lee, Ji Tae	RHP	2/2/21	Korea
Mejia, Daniel	RHP	2/2/21	Dominican
Melendez, Juan	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela
Millan, Carlos	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela
Paz, Ender	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela
Perez, Rickardo	C	2/2/21	Venezuela
Pulido, Danyony	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela
Ramos, Yoangel	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela
Rodriguez, Solardo	C/OF	2/2/21	Venezuela
Rondon, Leonardo	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela
Rosario, Yemil	SS	2/2/21	Dominican
Soto, Marco	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela
Teran, Saul	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela
Muller, Arquedion	IF	2/19/21	Curacao
Lee, Hao Yu	IF	6/15/21	Taiwan

[Squire]

Pretty sure that bonus would make him the third most expensive player in our current class.

[andyb]

Matt Winkelman had us with up to $1.2 million remaining in our pool, though his count of $3.5+ million probably did not include some of the lower level signings where we have no bonus info. So this probably uses up just about the rest of our $4.73 million pool and note that the international period closes on 6/25. That close date is probably because signings in this class are eligible to play this year. In previous cycles the July signings would wait till the next year, but all these delays means we are already in that next year.

[andyb]

I am not sure I have ever heard Sal speak before. Here he is on our newest prospect from Taiwan:
https://twitter.com/PatMcCarthy_/status/1406650679091998722

He really likes the offense. Has power and supposedly good pitch recognition. Threw up a Jeff Kent comparison though makes sure to qualify he is not as big. 5'10" 190, so he is more of a 2B/3B type than a middle infielder. And Sal really kind of glossed over any mention of defense.

[julio]

Updated list of reported signings - 25 in all (so far?):

Player	Position	Signed	Nationality	Birth	Age at Signing
Alderete, Alfredo	SS	2/2/21	Panama	2/16/04	16
Andrade, Dervin	C	2/2/21	Venezuela	11/1/03	17
Cabrera, Deivi	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela	1/26/04	17
Flores, Yemal	OF	2/2/21	Dominican	11/22/03	17
Garcia, Jorge	OF	2/2/21	Panama	2/6/04	17
Garibaldi, Jesus	LHP	2/2/21	Mexico	3/19/04	16
Heredia, Raylin	OF	2/2/21	Dominican	11/10/03	17
Heureaux, Julio	SS	2/2/21	Dominican	12/18/01	19
Lee, Ji Tae	RHP	2/2/21	Korea	1/12/01	20
Mejia, Daniel	RHP	2/2/21	Dominican	4/19/02	18
Melendez, Juan	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela	7/19/04	16
Millan, Carlos	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela	7/19/03	17
Paz, Ender	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela	3/26/04	16
Perez, Rickardo	C	2/2/21	Venezuela	12/4/03	17
Pulido, Danyony	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela	10/19/02	18
Ramos, Yoangel	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela	1/21/04	17
Rodriguez, Solardo	C/OF	2/2/21	Venezuela	11/24/03	17
Rondon, Leonardo	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela	3/10/04	16
Rosario, Yemil	SS	2/2/21	Dominican	4/12/04	16
Soto, Marco	SS	2/2/21	Venezuela	3/8/04	16
Teran, Saul	RHP	2/2/21	Venezuela	3/20/02	18
Muller, Arquedion	IF	2/19/21	Curacao	6/19/04	16
Lee, Hao Yu	IF	6/15/21	Taiwan	2/3/03	18
Garcia, Josbel	RHP	10/21/21	Venezuela	3/30/04	17
Rosales, Maikel	RHP	10/21/21	Venezuela	10/14/03	18

[andyb]

The lack of a good Dominican presence might be becoming a problem for the Phillies. I know there is an argument that they can get better value in Venezuela. The counter is that we are getting very few prospects in the country known to produce the most Latin American talent.

[zambonir]

Still think it's time to make a change there, they've changed everything else. Though maybe that also reflects the fact that Sal has never been the executive level decision-maker, and it's the various Assistant GMs who've failed.

[andyb]

The imbalance towards Venezuela is much more apparent in the last few years. I am just curious as to whether anything changed. It is kind of an abrupt shift if you look at the DSL rosters and compare that to 5 years ago when we probably had more Dominican prospects.

[Austinfan]

It may well be that by paying their Venezuelan employees and trying to keep their academy running, they've earned a lot of good will that gives them an inside edge over teams that cut and ran - any dollars you can get people there are huge, given the current state of the country. So where 32 teams are all over the DR, there's probably only a dozen or so that were able to maintain their networks in Venezuela.

[andyb]

I suspect that every team has scouting networks in Venezuela. The Phillies don't seem to be doing better because of their network, certainly in the results we have seen.

I am just noting this. I have no idea if it is a bad strategy or a good strategy (and neither does anyone else here). We'll just have to see in 5 years, but since they have not really done too well recently and it is largely the same group of scouts, I am not expecting it to be a great strategy.

[Squire]

Another minor signing (18 year old Cuban SS Luis Pelegrin) for $50K: (Credit to Matt Winkelman)

https://twitter.com/francysromero10/status/1437875953213001728

[andyb]

Nice catch. Picture here:

LUIS PELEGRÍN FIRMARA CON PHILADELPHIA –

His brother got $550K a few years ago.

[julio]

Yep. No roster assignment posted as yet; no birthdate provided on the mlb player page. This will eventually change...

[andyb]

Matt Winkelman notes that we know of 7 specific bonuses for the 26 total signings. $607,700 leftover for the 19 other players signed plus anybody else. Probably not that much left if any.

https://twitter.com/Matt_Winkelman/status/1453400712856092679