Today marks the beginning of the 2025 international signing period. Under the current rules, teams are given a bonus pool amount of money that they are allowed to spend on amateur players that that can not exceed. Teams are allowed to trade pool values and they are allowed to acquire up to 60% more of their original bonus pool amount. For example – whoever it is that lands Japanese starting pitcher Roki Sasaki is expected to acquire multiple millions of additional pool money via trades in order to sign him to the largest possible bonus that they can. The Cincinnati Reds bonus pool is currently $7,555,500 – the highest amount (tied) in baseball this year.
After several years in a row of the Reds landing a player who was among the top five players in the international signing class, Cincinnati doesn’t have that big of a signing in 2025. That said, the top guy(s) on signing day don’t always turn out to be the top guys a few years down the road (though, sometimes they absolutely do).
This year’s top Reds signee is Venezuelan shortstop Liberts Aponte. He has been rated the 18th best prospect by MLB Pipeline and is expected to receive the 18th largest signing bonus in the class according to Baseball America. Ben Badler, of Baseball America, is reporting that he signed for $1,900,000. The 17-year-old sticks out defensively at shortstop where he has good hands, quick feet, and a solid arm to go along with outstanding athleticism. All of that combined could allow him to become a plus defensive player down the line. At the plate he’s seen more as a hit over power guy, who can make plenty of contact and use the entire field. The right-handed hitter is likely to have below-average power in the future. At 6′ 0″ and 170 lbs as a recently turned 17-year-old, his power development could come down to just how much he fills out his frame over the years.
The next player in line for Cincinnati in terms of expected signing bonus is another prospect from Venezuela – catcher Enry Torres. He was not among the MLB Pipeline top 50 prospects in this class, but did come in at #58 on the signing board from Baseball America. He is a little bit of the opposite of Aponte right now. Torres is more known for his bat at this point than his defense. The left-handed hitter has good bat-to-ball skills and some power potential. Defensively he has continued to improve since agreeing to a deal with the Reds but like many catchers his age he is still a bit raw behind the plate in many aspects.
Venezuela seems to be the hot spot for the Reds as they also signed outfielder Isaac Garcia from the country. He was the #71 player on the top 100 board from Baseball America. He has a chance to stick in center field, but that could come down to how much his body fills out. Currently he’s a plus runner who can handle the position. At the plate he could be more power than hit, but he’s hit well in showcases over the years against good competition. He has good power potential.
Shortstop Angel Salio from the Dominican Republic is the final signee that was rated on Baseball America’s Top 100 signing board and he came in at #91. He is more of a bat over defensive player when it comes to shortstop. His future defensive landing spot could be somewhere other than shortstop, though he is expected to get some looks there early on and to go from there. At the plate the left-handed hitter has a chance to hit for both average and power.
Baseball America is also reporting that the Reds have signed two additional shortstops in Jealmy Frias from the Dominican Republic and Omar Guadamuz from Nicaragua.
As it’s gone in past years, I will do my best to get scouting reports/information on all of the players that are signed this week. That usually does not happen immediately – last year I was able to get stuff for everyone that signed in the first day written up and published on the following day. I am hoping to have information on everyone that’s signed tomorrow and will get it published as quickly as I can – but again, I’m limited on sources for this stuff and am at the mercy of the schedules of a few people who are working through what is their busiest few days of the year.
As signings come in, they will be added here. Another note worth mentioning is that player signing bonuses – unless noted by another publication – will not be listed here. While I typically do get that information, in the last decade or so there have been incidents where players and their families have become targets for criminals and thus keeping that information out of the public view has become a bit more of a policy.
Update at 4:25pm ET
Here is the list of players who the 18 players the Cincinnati Reds have signed today:
- Starlin Alberto – RHP – Dominican Republic
- Liberts Aponte – IF – Venezuela
- Ramces Camargo – RHP – Colombia
- Juan Caricipe – IF – Venezuela
- Deinis Chourio – IF/OF – Venezuela
- Wanderly De La Cruz – OF – Dominican Republic
- Sandor Feliciano – IF – Dominican Republic
- Jealmy Frias – IF – Dominican Republic
- Isaac Garcia – OF – Venezuela
- Omar Guadamuz – IF – Nicaragua
- Cesar Maiz – RHP – Venezuela
- Jose Martinez – OF – Venezuela
- Diego Muñoz – OF – Dominican Republic
- Abel Peña – C/1B – Venezuela
- Oscar Ramirez – RHP – Dominican Republic
- Rey Reyes – OF – Venezuela
- Angel Salio – IF – Dominican Republic
- Enry Torres – C – Venezuela
There are a few other players who are expected to sign in the next few weeks, too, who aren’t listed yet.
The most recent update reflects that the Reds have officially agreed to terms with Omar Guadamuz according to their published list on twitter, so he has been added to the previously reported list above.