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    Cincinnati Reds sign 18 international prospects

    Doug Gray 22

    The Cincinnati Reds have announced the signing of 15 prospects to kick off the 2024 international prospect signing period. Earlier today I wrote about the two biggest signings of the day – outfielder Adolfo Sanchez and shortstop Naibel Mariano. Both players received signing bonuses in the 7-figures, and according to Baseball America’s projected signing bonus list got the 6th and 11th highest bonuses of all players that are expected to sign this year. Update: Two more signings have been added since initial publication that were not announced with the original 15 deals shared by the club in their official release, but are on the official transactions report. Another Update: An 18th player has been signed and added below.

    Today is just the first day that teams can sign players from this current class. The signing period will last for the next 11 months and there will be more signings coming along, though today is likely going to be where the bulk of the signings come from.

    It’s worth noting that while contracts did get signed today, they aren’t technically official until they are approved by Major League Baseball’s Commissioner’s Office. It’s very rare that this becomes an issue as players tend to go through a verification process prior to signing to confirm their signing eligibility and all of that. Teams will also conduct physicals and every so often that can show an issue that may lead to something. Both are rare things, but they do happen at times.

    Here’s the list of the players that the Reds agreed to deals with today:

    • Erlin Aguero – RHP – Dominican Republic
    • Jhan Almeida – RHP – Venezuela
    • Juan Brown – 3B – Aruba
    • Oniel Diaz – RHP – Dominican Republic
    • Manuel Marchan – RHP – Venezuela
    • Naibel Mariano – SS – Dominican Republic
    • Jaset Martinez – OF – Venezuela
    • Shendrion Martinus – SS – Curacao
    • Franyer Mendez – RHP – Venezuela
    • Jirvin Morillo – C – Venezuela
    • Pablo Nunez – OF – Venezuela
    • Peson Revierre – OF – Curacao
    • Riangelo Richardson – 2B – Aruba
    • Jose Sabino – SS – Venezuela
    • Adolfo Sanchez – OF – Dominican Republic
    • Stharlin Torres – RHP – Dominican Republic
    • Nayerich Waterfort – 2B – Curacao
    • Diorland Zambrando – SS – Venezuela

    This group features six pitchers and 11 position players. All of the pitchers are listed as right-handed pitchers. The position player group has six infielders, a catcher, and four outfielders.

    To be eligible to sign during this current signing period a player has to have been born between September 1st, 2006 and August 31st, 2007. Players who are born earlier than that are also eligible to sign – they were just previously eligible in most cases.

    Cincinnati has $6,520,000 to spend this signing period. That is the second tier of pool money. The Reds fall into this category this year because they have a Comp A draft pick last year. In years where they would have a Comp B draft pick they get the top tier of pool money for the international signing period. Teams are allowed to trade for additional pool money. It can only be traded for and acquired for the current signing period, and teams can only acquire up to 60% in total of their original pool allotment.

    Scouting reports for these players are now available and can be found here.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    22 Responses

    3. I am interested in hearing more on Juan Brown. Sounds like we spent a 3rd most on him, must have seen some potential there.

    4. Shendrion Martinus, from Curacao … an heir to The General, Mariekson Julius “Didi” Gregorius?

      Or am I getting more of a Roman Emperor vibe?

    5. Really hoping one of these international pitchers turn into something. Reds haven’t gotten much of anything done in the Latjn amateur pitching since signing Johnny Cueto 20 years ago! Unacceptable for a small market team. That’s the cheapest way to add pitching to organization.

        1. I mean, yes, but not at all the same. Chapman was a 22-year-old with legit pro experience. Chapman signed a big league contract, even if he did start his career in the minor leagues. I’d guess that Mauired means a 16/17-year-old signee.

      2. To be fair less than 10% of 2023 qualified pitchers were part of the international class.

        More than 25% of 2023 qualified hitters were part of the international class.

        Second and more important, players with a career WAR greater than 2 and signed by the Reds as international 16 year olds: (this excludes Chapman, Gutierrez)

        Johnny Cueto: 31.7
        Didi Gregorius: 12.5

        So actually, the Reds have fared better with pitchers, especially when compared to other teams, than hitters.

        2. The Reds, until about 5 years ago, were utterly catastrophic with Latin American hitters. You can make a strong case that the last truly good Latin American hitter that the Reds signed and developed was (impossibly enough) Tony Perez. Elly will likely be the next, and there appear to be a quite a few more in the pipeline. (There have been a few candidates, like Dave Concepcion and Edwin Encarnacion, but EE was traded to the Blue Jays (and either non-tendered or DFA’d by the Jays), before he became a star.)

          So, they weren’t really “better” with Latin pitchers; they have simply been putrid with Latin hitters.

          I think that failure is the largest single reason that the Reds have been unable to sustain a competitive team outside fairly narrow windows. I also think that the Reds are on the path to conquering that failure.

      3. And see Doug’s comment from the other thread about teams’ approach to 16-17 yr. old pitchers. Expect you’d find similar results with other clubs.

      4. There’s a LH kid from Mexico, Edwin Cervantes, that may turn into something. 6’3″ and paper thin, but I’m hoping projectable.

        1. They call him 6’3″ and 159. Tom (The Blade) Hall was listed as 6′ and 150. Hall pitched 8.1 scoreless innings in relief in the 1972 World Series.

          I am skeptical of all baseball heights and weights.

        2. That is a healthy skepticism. We actually don’t have to go back to The Blade. Reiver SanMartin is so thin that when he rotates his body in his windup, there are moment he disappears.

    6. Yeah Chapman was a homerun for the Reds, but not an amateur signing. But even that signing was a long time ago. 14 years is awhile for any international pitching prospect to make an impact. If anyone wants to throw out Diaz as a recent example, he’s American. Lol.

    7. For anyone waiting around – the scouting reports are scheduled to publish at 7am ET. But you could have had them already if you were one of the cool Patreon supporters.

    9. It’s weird but in the Reds transaction log Adolfo Sanchez signing is not shown however Stharlin Torres appears twice… Maybe is a miscue?

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