July 2nd International Free Agent Signing Period Coming Soon…

Good morning Yankees family and welcome back to the blog, and welcome to an off day. If it feels like the Yankees have been playing almost every single day during the month of June there is probably a good reason for it, because they have. Mother Nature has not been kind to the Bombers, but hopefully the trouble with the weather is behind the team and it will be nothing but sunny, and Sonny, skies from here on out.  

With the off day today, I wanted to take a look at the upcoming class of international free agents that are set to hit the market when the new signing period begins on July 2^nd. The Yankees have an allocated IFA budget of $4,983,500 which was passed down from the league and are expected to be involved with many of the top international free agents on the market. Remember, a team can trade for up to 75% of their total allotment in trades in $250,000 increments meaning the Yankees could position themselves to have as much as $8,721,125 to spend on the international market this season.  

The Yankees already have verbal commitments with and are expected to sign Dominican outfielder Kevin Alcantara (10^th best prospect) and Cuban right-handed starter Denny Larrondo (29^th best prospect) while the team has also been linked to Dominican catchers Antonio Gomez (11^th best prospect) and Agustin Ramirez (unranked by Baseball America and MLB.com).  

Here are MLB.com’s scouting reports on Alcantara and Larrondo:  

Alcantara has above-average speed — he’s been clocked consistently in the 6.4-6.6 second range in the 60-yard timed run — and it shows up on both sides of the ball. Alcantara is also a gamer. He performs well at the plate in a live setting and projects to hit for more power in the future. Scouts also rave about his good bat speed and high contact ratio. He hits the ball hard and often tops the 100-mph mark in exit velocity. 

Overall, Larrondo is an elite athlete with a projectable body and a quick arm. He has tight spin on his emerging curveball, his second-best pitch. The teenager is an aggressive strike-thrower with a working changeup that is expected to improve once he signs with a team and receives daily instruction in a club’s academy … The right-hander has touched 94 mph with his fastball and usually sits in the 91-to-92 mph range. 

Alcantara will turn 16 on July 12^th, so he won’t be eligible to sign until then, while Larrondo and Gomez have already turned 16 making them eligible to sign when international signings open up on July 2^nd.