The Diamondbacks signed Colombian catcher Oswaldo Garcia and Dominican shortstop Fernery Ozuna, as MLBTR noted earlier today. Here are some more noteworthy international signings:
- The Pirates announced that they signed 16-year-old Dominican Michael DeLaCruz. The outfielder obtained a $700K bonus, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (Twitter links). “He is a young player with … tools that are still developing,” Pirates director of Latin American scouting Rene Gayo said. “He is also an instinctive and aggressive performer with a very strong opportunity to be a five-tool player.” If the name sounds familiar, it's because the Pirates recently signed Dominican third baseman Julio Delacruz for $700K.
- The Pirates are waiting to sign three more Dominican players for a combined total of $750K or so, Biertempfel adds.
- The Orioles signed Cuban outfielder Henry Urrutia to a minor league contract with a bonus of $779K, Ben Badler of Baseball America reports. The 25-year-old's bonus won't count against Baltimore's $2.9MM pool for the 2012-13 international signing period. Urrutia is an athletic switch-hitter who could begin his professional career at Double-A, according to Baseball America.
Orioles signed a Cuban player? Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.
Don’t get too excited. Keith Law already called Urrutia “nothing special” on Twitter.
Which automatically makes him better than most of these fools we’re running out there in this organization
He’s just being a curmudgeon on the Orioles, which is normal.
Or maybe he’s right, which is also normal.
Betting and against the Orioles and being right are exactly the same thing.
Woot!
Let’s Go Bucs!