Headlines

  • Lucas Giolito Converts Club Option To Mutual Provision
  • Yordan Alvarez To Miss Time With “Pretty Significant” Ankle Sprain
  • Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge
  • Mets Moving Sean Manaea To The Bullpen
  • Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut
  • Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Athletics
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rays To Sign Wander Franco

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2017 at 8:06am CDT

The Rays have reached agreement to sign 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Wander Samuel Franco, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter link).  Franco will receive a bonus worth $3.825MM.

Franco was regarded as the top prospect in this year’s international prospect class by both MLB.com and Baseball America.  Franco is a 5’10”, 170-pound switch-hitter from a baseball family — Erick Aybar is his uncle, and Franco’s two older brothers are prospects in the Royals and Astros organizations.  According to BA’s scouting report (available to subscribers), Franco is described as having excellent bat control, “premium bat speed,” and an overall very polished approach to hitting for a prospect of his age, with many scouts calling him the best hitting prospect of this year’s July 2 class.  Defensively, Franco seems to grade out as a sturdy but unspectacular shortstop, though his body type may require a move to second base (where he could become an above-average defender) down the road.

The Rays have long been linked to Franco, and he immediately becomes an important prospect for a team that relies so heavily on low-cost player development.  Flores’ deal marks Tampa Bay’s return to July 2 prominence, as the team has been limited to signings of no more than $300K for the last two international signing periods as punishment for exceeding their draft pool in the 2014-15 market.  Franco’s bonus alone accounts for a major chunk of Tampa’s $5.25MM overall draft pool, though the Rays can trade for as much as $3,937,500 in additional pool funds in deals with other teams.

Share 0 Retweet 9 Send via email0

2017-18 International Prospects 2017-18 International Signings Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Wander Franco

West Notes: D-backs, Angels, Dodgers
Main
Red Sox To Sign Daniel Flores, Danny Diaz, Antoni Flores
View Comments (9)
Post a Comment

9 Comments

  1. raysdaze

    8 years ago

    McKay and Franco additions should put Rays system in top 5.

    3
    Reply
    • hiflew

      8 years ago

      Two prospects are not going to cause THAT big a jump in the rankings. Those two guys will not cause the Rays to jump the Braves, Yanks, or White Sox. The Padres and Reds got similarly good prospects as the Rays as well and were already stronger. The Rays definitely improved, but they are not top 5 YET.

      1
      Reply
      • ducksnort69

        8 years ago

        The system prospect rankings are not an exact science and I have personally found them only useful in pegging the very worst and very best. Most of the in between ranked teams have so much variation in outcomes it’s kind of pointless.

        1
        Reply
        • hiflew

          8 years ago

          NO baseball stat is an exact science.

          Reply
      • therealryan

        8 years ago

        The Rays system might not be as good as those top 3, but they’re in the same neighborhood as the Reds and Padres.

        Reply
  2. sufferforsnakes

    8 years ago

    I wander what he’ll do with all that money?

    1
    Reply
    • jdgoat

      8 years ago

      Boooooo

      Reply
  3. therealryan

    8 years ago

    Very quietly, the Rays have rebuilt themselves on the fly without a total tear down and lengthy rebuild. They are currently in the thick of the playoff race with one of the younger teams in MLB, despite losing multiple key pieces to injury, and have the majority of their core locked up for multiple seasons. The Rays also have one of the top farm systems with a nice mix of pitching and position players dispersed across all levels, top ranked prospects and good depth. Kudos to the FO for a nice job withering the storm after losing Friedman and Maddon a few seasons ago.

    1
    Reply
  4. fljay73

    8 years ago

    Rays system has gotten stronger over the last few years. Not counting Mckay as a pitcher & who they acquire as they trade Jake O. & Ramirez during the offseason or following will add to their pitching depth at AAA. Rays have some good position players that will be coming up over the next few seasons as well
    Who cares if the Rays system is not top 3. It will start giving them good young players going forward. That is good enough for me.

    1
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Lucas Giolito Converts Club Option To Mutual Provision

    Yordan Alvarez To Miss Time With “Pretty Significant” Ankle Sprain

    Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge

    Mets Moving Sean Manaea To The Bullpen

    Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut

    Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List

    Dipoto: Mariners Interested In Re-Signing Josh Naylor

    Anthony Volpe Playing Through Partial Labrum Tear

    Orioles Promoted Mike Elias Prior To 2025 Season

    Anthony Rizzo Retires

    Cubs Place Kyle Tucker On Injured List

    Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On Injured List

    Phillies Place Trea Turner, Alec Bohm On Injured List

    Sean Murphy To Undergo Hip Surgery

    Trea Turner To Undergo MRI Due To Hamstring Strain

    Davey Johnson Passes Away

    Mets Option Kodai Senga

    NPB’s Kazuma Okamoto, Tatsuya Imai Expected To Be Posted For MLB Teams

    Shelby Miller Likely Headed For Tommy John Surgery

    Red Sox To Place Roman Anthony On Injured List

    Recent

    Fantasy Baseball Subscriber Chat With Nicklaus Gaut

    MLB Mailbag: Cardinals, Orioles, Astros, Schwarber, Casas

    MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage

    MLB Abandons Plans For 2026 London Series

    Sandy Alcantara Is Finding His Old Form

    Royals To Place Ryan Bergert On Injured List With Forearm Tightness

    Rangers To Activate Tyler Mahle On Friday

    Angels Outright Chad Wallach

    Poll: Luis Robert Jr.’s Option

    Lucas Giolito Converts Club Option To Mutual Provision

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Every MLB Trade In July
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version