This past week the Cincinnati Reds signed two pitchers on the international free agent market. The 2023 international signing period ends on December 15th and then there’s a month where teams can’t sign anyone before the 2024 signing period begins on January 15th. The Reds and plenty of other teams are making a few signings as time available to sign players and use up all of their allotted pool money comes to a close. Cincinnati picked up left-handed pitcher Ryjeteri Merite out of the Netherlands on December 7th and right-handed pitcher Samuel Perez out of Panama on December 11th.
Ryjeteri Merite will turn 19 in three days. He played with the 18-U Netherlands team this past year during the Baseball World Cup. Merite pitched and serve at times as the designated hitter. In his two games on the mound he allowed a run in 7.2 innings while walking two batters and striking out seven batters.
Listed at 6′ 3″ and 150 lbs. he is a lean and lanky guy at this point. The lefty is relatively new to pitching and used to be an outfielder before moving to the mound. His fastball currently works in the mid-80’s and he shows some feel for spin on his curveball. He’s also working on a change up.
Samuel Perez turned 19 back in August. The Panama native is listed at 6′ 1″ and 185 lbs. I’m told there’s room to add to his frame. His fastball sits in the high 80’s right now. His secondary stuff is still developing. He throws plenty of strikes and he hides the ball well.