July 2, 2019 International Signing Period

[Squire]

First Baseball America preview of the July 2, 2019 Class out today. Lists about 10 players and connects us with the following player who sounds great.

Yhoswar Garcia, OF, Venezuela
Team: Phillies

Garcia has an exciting tool set in a lean, athletic 6-foot frame. He's a plus-plus runner who defends his position well in center field with a strong arm. He's a righthanded hitter who has also performed well in games against professional pitching, with a hit-over-power offensive profile. If he retains his speed and keeps hitting the way he has recently, he could develop into a player along the lines of Nationals center fielder Victor Robles. Garcia trains with Roberto Vahlis.

[Mod's Addition, 7/3/19]

2019-20 Signed International Free Agents

Player	Position	Signed	Nationality	Birth	Age	Bonus
Cabrera, Esteban	RHP	7/2/19	Venezuela
Cabrera, Jean	RHP	7/2/19	Venezuela
Colmenarez, Jose	C	7/2/19	Venezuela			350,000
Gonzalez, Diego	SS	7/2/19	Venezuela
Graterol, Enyer	2B	7/2/19	Venezuela
Hernandez, Fernando		7/2/19	Venezuela			350,000
Hernandez, Jean	RHP	7/2/19	Dominican			300,000
Leanez, Jose	CF	7/2/19	Venezuela
Linares, Diego		7/2/19
Mercalina, Raibiently	SS	7/2/19	Aruba
Pertuz, Jackie	C	7/2/19	Columbia			200,000
Querales, Jesus	THP	7/2/19	Venezuela
Rosario, Ricardo	OF	7/2/19	Venezuela
Sevilla, Jehisbert	SS	7/2/19	Venezuela			275,000
Silva, Brahian	C	7/2/19	Venezuela
Torres, Santiago	OF	7/2/19	Venezuela
Vasquez, Randy	SS	7/2/19	Dominican			350,000
Velasquez, Giuseppe	RHP	7/2/19	Venezuela
					Bonuses Total:	1,825,000
					Pool:	4,821,400
					Remaining:	2,996,400

[fish]

Whoohoo!! Certainly profiles as an interesting guy, depending on if "lean" means narrow, or if there is room to grow.

So, wait a minute. There is an outfielder Yhoscar Garcia on the Liga Parallela roster. With the rule changes that let you keep a guy on in the academy before he signs, does that mean he can play in Liga Parallela games too? Must be- the quote reads "performed well in games against professional pitching".

[andyb]

Teams definitely use the Liga Paralela as a tryout camp. Not sure the rules on 15-year-olds playing but one often sees older players (17-20) playing for a team to get signed for the next summer season.

11-27 as a 15-year-old made him one of the better hitters on the team, outplaying guys several years older. I like it. Have not signed a CF to a big international contract in a while.

PDBPV | Programa de Desarrollo de Béisbol Profesional Venezolano |...

[andyb]

Short article with new rankings on Fangraphs.

Updated July 2 Prospect Rankings

Only 6 names on their board so far and Garcia is the 6th. No bonus projection as of yet.
https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-international?sort=-1,1&type=0

[Squire]

Getting the #6 guy overall ain't bad.

[andyb]

Definitely though it is possible he is not 6th once we get a more complete ranking of the top 30-50 prospects. I like going for a good defensive OF for the first time in a while as our top signing. He seems a version of Tocci but with more offensive potential.

[Squire]

MLBPipeline.com published their Top 30 list of July 2, 2019 International Prospects and the Phillies are associated with none of them.

[gmwannabe]

what happened to garcia? no money left?
gm

[Squire]

Yhoswar Garcia was not listed among the MLBPipeline.com Top 30 7/2/2019 prospects.

[nycphils]

Here’s an excerpt from BA on Garcia:

Garcia has an exciting tool set in a lean, athletic 6-foot frame. He's a plus-plus runner who defends his position well in center field with a strong arm. He's a righthanded hitter who has also performed well in games against professional pitching, with a hit-over-power offensive profile. If he retains his speed and keeps hitting the way he has recently, he could develop into a player along the lines of Nationals center fielder Victor Robles. Garcia trains with Roberto Vahlis.

[andyb]

All of these international ratings are pretty unreliable, though I would say seeing him not make the MLB top 30 makes me hope Garcia is a $1M player and not a $2M player.

[bkeich]

So it seems that every year when this market opens up the top players are already basically signed by teams and it all moves pretty fast. Do we have any idea if the Phils are associated with any of the top players this upcoming year (in a few weeks) or do we think they will continue to use the "spread the money over multiple ranked 20-100 players"? It doesnt seem like we are often associated with the top 5 names, but have a different strategy.

I realize this may still be a complete unknown until July 2nd, just curious if there is any info yet.

[Mod's note: Moved here from the 2018 thread... - J]

[bkeich]

[Mod's note: Moved here from the 2018 thread... - J]

Thanks Julio as always, didnt realize I was in the wrong thread, sorry for adding work for you

[julio]

[Mod's note: Moved here from the 2018 thread... - J]

Thanks Julio as always, didnt realize I was in the wrong thread, sorry for adding work for you

I figured you weren't aware there was a 2019 thread - it was created a long time ago, and had been dormant for about a month... No worries!

[andyb]

Bad news on the international front as our top target was suspended for a year for age/identity issues. We are currently not linked to any of the Fangraphs top 40.

July 2 International Amateur Preview

[Lucky_Beagle]

sell the slots for a high price!

[fish]

Seems like he would have had to commit to that scam years ago. That sucks.

[gmwannabe]

great news... what else can add to this, so far, disappointing season. are the phils now, this year's orioles? venezuelan SS Maximo Acosta.. come on Sal, work some magic.
gm

[fish]

venezuelan SS Maximo Acosta.. come on Sal, work some magic.

Do you say that because they have the same trainer?

Fangraphs made a vailed comment about top 5 guy Lora being injured who was linked to the Rangers for 4 million - maybe the injury screws that deal and gives the Phils an opening there. Otherwise I guess there is a kid from Cuba and one from Taiwan down lower in the ranks who aren’t linked to anyone yet.

The “spread the pool around” approach avoiding the better ranked players didn’t work out too well a few years ago.

[andyb]

This should also not affect the 20 other kids they had lined up. They just need a use for whatever bonus money they had reserved for this kid. Disappointing, but good that they caught it. I'd probably be fine signing the kid for a nominal amount in a year.