Taking a swing in the international market

The Royals aim to find impact talent as the international signing period opens.

The international signing period opened on Monday, with several teams—including the Royals—announcing a flurry of moves.

The Royals were one of six teams that qualified for “Signing Bonus Pool B” meaning they have $7,114,800 to spend over the next 11 months. It’s the highest amount among the bonus pools. The Guardians are the only other AL Central team in this pool.

There have been a lot of failures in recent years for the Royals in acquiring young talent. The draft immediately springs to mind, but they have suffered on the international market as well, whiffing with an alarming frequency. If you were to make a list of the best Royals’ international signings, it would be a short one. The 2006 signing period was the apex with Salvador Perez out of Venezuela and Kelvin Herrera from the Dominican. Yordano Ventura followed two years later out of the DR. Under the what-could’ve-been category was Adalberto Mondesi from the Dominican in 2011. Beyond those names? Slim pickings.

When you realize that three of those four played a major role in the Royals’ resurgence in 2014 and 2015, it’s easy to understand the importance of the international signing period. That Mondesi is a high-profile miss post-2015 underscores the high stakes on the international market. International free agents signed by the Royals who played for the club in 2023 were guys such as Freddy Fermin, Carlos Hernández, Ángel Zerpa and Maikel Garcia, all from out of Venezuela. Solid players, all. But lacking in similar impact that Perez, Herrera and Ventura brought.

The Royals have attempted to correct what has become a glaring deficiency in the last couple of years, most notably since JJ Picollo has taken over the general manager role. Indeed, in the last few of weeks, the team has added Johnny DiPuglia as Special Assistant of International Scouting and Fred Guerrero as Coordinator of Player Evaluation. While the late arrival of both likely pre-dated the agreements the Royals struck with their most recent signings, it still represents an important change in direction for an organization that was previously adrift on the international market.

The Royals signed eight players on Monday according to Baseball America.

Yandel Ricardo, SS, Cuba

A 6-2, 17 year old switch-hitting shortstop? Hell, yeah…sign me up.

Ricardo ranks ninth overall on the Baseball America list of Top 100 International Prospects. He’s 10th on the FanGraphs list. Here’s a sampling of his scouting report from BA:

Ricardo is the top prospect from Cuba eligible to sign in 2024, blending good size, athleticism and hitting ability from both sides of the plate. He takes a direct, efficient swing from both sides with good bat path to stay behind the ball and use the whole field. He’s a little more advanced from the right side, but he’s a high-contact hitter against both lefties and righties with a good offensive approach.

With the fact he’s already 6-2 and presumably still able to add to his frame, it’s possible he could outgrow the position and need to shift to second or third, but we know the best players on the field are found at short so this isn’t exactly a concern.

I’ll embed the Baseball America supercut of Ricardo hitting in a game and taking some practice swings from both sides of the dish because while I’m writing this it’s currently 4 degrees with snow coming down. The sound of the bat vandalizing a baseball is too good to pass up.

FanGraphs is estimating the agreement between the Royals and Ricardo will come with a bonus of $2.4 million.

Jhonayker Ugarte, SS, Venezuela

Ugarte turns 17 in March. If Ricardo is a shortstop on the taller side, how about Ugarte who is already standing at 6-3? Mercy. Ugarte hits from the right side and ranks 31st on Baseball America’s list:

Ugarte is a Venezuelan shortstop who has been training in the Dominican Republic. Scouts who liked Ugarte the most liked his sound righthanded swing for his age and hitting ability with gap power, but he’s grown around four inches with significantly more bat speed and power now.

FanGraphs is higher on Ugarte, putting him at number 20 on their list. They predict a bonus of $1.3 million. Like Ricardo, it’s possible he will shift off of the shortstop position.

Darison Garcia, SS, Dominican Republic

Another shortstop! I think you see where this is going. Baseball America has him as their number 51 international prospect.

Instinctive, high baseball IQ player and steady offensive performer, line-drive stroke with gap power

I feel like if I were a scout, I’d be on the lookout for players who could be described as “instinctive” and with a “high baseball IQ.” After some of the…ahem…lack of thoughtful play over the last couple of decades guys who actually understand the mechanisms of the game kind of resonate with me.

Jose Cerice, 3B, Cuba

Perhaps the oldest of the Royals’ signees at 18, Cerice is a right-handed hitting third baseman who starred in Cuba’s U-18 league last year. He ranks 61 at BA:

…hit-over-power with more juice that could come down the road, defensive skill set for third base.

I’m just going to refer to Cerice as a “potential juice guy.” That works.

Based on the data provided by FanGraphs, the bonuses for Cerice and Garcia will likely fall below the million-dollar mark.

The Royals also signed four other, although less heralded players:

Anthony Longo, C, Venezuela
Anderson Garcia, SS, Dominican Republic
Juan Rivera, RHP, Dominican Republic
Robinson Chacon, OF, Venezuela

I wouldn’t discount those guys just because they are on the “others signed” list. Perez signed for just $65,000. Fermin was inked for less than $10,000. So when I see another Venezuelan catcher joining the organization, it has my attention. Even if it will be years before we know how someone like Longo pans out.

To better understand how the international signing period works, I highly recommend Eric Longenhagen’s explanation at FanGraphs. It’s always been a bit of an unsavory process and it remains that way. The long and the short are teams and players often enter into agreements way ahead of the period opening up and some teams verbally commit to more players than they can afford under the cap that is the draft pool. Unlike other draft pools, this one is in fact a hard cap, meaning there is no way for a team to spend beyond their allocated and mandated budget. So what do teams do that overcommit? They simply pick from among their agreements which ones they’d like to sign, effectively cutting players loose that they cannot afford. Or those who they simply decide they no longer want.

Given what we know about how the Royals operate, I would be shocked if they were among the teams that routinely back out of their verbal agreements. It’s worth mentioning, though…The playing field has never been entirely level or well-regulated in the international market. A separate draft of international talent is probably the way to go. MLB and the MLBPA seem to discuss it every time the CBA comes up, but it’s not really on the front burner of the Player’s Association. Maybe someday.