Thursday, July 6, 2017

Meet a Prospect: The Four IFA’s in the Top 50 from 2017


The International signing period for international free agents opened up on July 2 like it does every season and like every season a flurry of activity happened on day one. The Yankees had been under spending restrictions for the past two signing periods after going nuts on IFA’s in 2014 but in 2017 there would be no such spending restrictions for New York. The Yankees came out in a big way this week signing four of the Top 50 prospects on this year’s IFA market. Let’s meet them. This is Meet a Prospect: the Everson Pereira, Roberto Chirinios, Anthony Garcia and Ronny Rojas Edition.

Everson Pereira is an outfielder out of Venezuela that the New York Yankees signed for a cool $1.5 million. Pereira was named the 4th best prospect from this year’s class according to Ben Badler and Baseball America due to his great speed, strong arm and above average defense. Pereira has a short, fluid swing that many see developing power as he grows into his body. Pereira puts the ball in play, takes his walks and uses his legs to wreak havoc on the base paths once he gets there.

Roberto Chirinios is a shortstop who is also out of Venezuela that the Yankees organization added for $900,000. Chirinios was ranked as the 20th best prospect to come out of this class according to Ben Badler and Baseball America although right now it’s unclear whether Chirinios will be able to stick at short.

Anthony Garcia is an outfielder from the Dominican Republic that will begin his professional career with the Yankees organization after agreeing to sign for $450,000. Garcia was ranked 28th overall in this season’s class by Ben Badler and Baseball America.

Ronny Rojas hasn’t officially signed with the Yankees since he is just 15-years old but will when he turns 16-years old in August of this season. Rojas was the 11th best prospect from this season’s class according to Baseball American for his fluid motions and strong throwing arm at the shortstop position. Rojas is originally from the Dominican Republic.


As a side note the Yankees also signed Dominican outfielder Stanley Rosario for $300,000 and Dominican shortstop Miguel Marte for $200,000 in a set of relatively minor deals for the organization. Not to say these young men can’t grow into something more, there are countless instances where the Yankees and many teams found lightning in a bottle with prospects after signing them for $300,000 or less, but neither were ranked in the Top 50 according to Baseball America. 

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