NFT: MLB IFA signing period opens today - Yankees edition

of the top international prospects this year.

Can you fill us in on the Yanks interests?

Kevin Alcantara

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Hometown: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Position: OF Age: 15 DOB: 07/12/2002 Bats: R Throws: R Height: 6'5" Weight: 175 lb.Watch Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 55 | Run: 70 | Arm: 50 | Field: 60 The athletic Alcantara is a natural center fielder and has all of the tools to keep him at the position as he matures and his body develops. Scouts like the way the sleek teenager glides across the outfield and his closing speed. He has also been praised for his good routes, easy glove work and instincts. He also shows a solid average arm with accuracy. 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. Alcantara is from Santo Domingo and trains with Joel Roa and Jose Offerman. The Yankees are the front-runners to sign the teenage outfielder.

Antonio Gomez

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Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela Position: C Age: 16 DOB: 11/13/2001 Bats: R Throws: R Height: 6'2" Weight: 205 lb.Watch Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 35 | Arm: 60 | Field: 60 There's a large group of catching prospects from Venezuela in this year's class, and Gomez has a case to be considered among the elite. He does profile as an everyday catcher, and here's why: Gomez has built a reputation for being durable and strong. He has a strong arm now and projects to have well-above-average arm strength. He has shown sound receiving skills and is expected to improve on other parts of his defensive game -- framing and blocking -- once he signs with a team and enters its academy. At his best, Gomez has displayed an impressive 1.7-1.75 pop time in workouts and 1.83 in games. On offense, Gomez has a displayed a good approach with an easy swing and easy power to the gaps. He could hit for more power in the future. Gomez is from Caracas, Venezuela, and he is represented by J.Felix Luzon and Felix Luzon S. of 9 Stars Sports Management Agency. The Yankees are considered the favorite to sign the teenager.

Denny Larrondo

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Position: RHP Age: 16 DOB: 05/31/2002 Bats: R Throws: R Height: 6'2" Weight: 180 lb.Watch Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Change: 50 | Curve: 55 | Control: 55 A former shortstop, Larrondo was once considered one of the great young two-way players in Cuba. However, the team that signs Larrondo will use him exclusively on the mound. 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. Larrondo is also a threat if he does manage to get on base, as he's considered a plus runner. The right-hander, who is from Villa Clara, Cuba, is trained by Fausto Mejia and represented by Isbel Medina. The Yankees are among the teams that have shown interest.

It looks like the Yanks traded for a bunch of IFA money last year to take a shot at Otani. However, when Otani turned them down, they shifted course and signed two big money IFAs who it was rumored that they planned to sign in this year's July 2 IFA group.

It has been speculated that because of that, the Yanks were behind a lot of teams in recruiting the high end guys. With that said, there is a decent pool of young Cuban players who are now available- and the Yanks are in on two of the higher end ones.

The Yanks have tended to avoid giving big bonuses to IFA P- as spending big money on 16 year arms is always a risky proposition- lots of things can go wrong- injury, lack of progression, failure to learn a 3rd pitch, etc.

With that said, they are rumored to be willing to spend a lot of money on two Cuban P- both of whom are about 16 years old.

How will that work out for them? I do not know. Cuban players seem to be all over the board performance wise. Does signing them at 16 make a difference in development? I have no idea.

Should be an interesting IFA period nevertheless.

is the big name pitcher out of Cuba to keep an eye on. A lot of smoke with him linked to the Yanks, nothing is official yet. Link below is a tracker so far.

We're linked to #9, #10, and #11.
Tracker - ( New Window )

all 6' 2" or better...

Antonio Gomez signing his Yankee contract-in the fold!

Late starters or not, the Yankees are likely to get a pretty decent haul of talent. What is interesting is not just the Cuban emphasis but the emphasis on pitching. We've made some fantastic medium-dollar signs of pitchers. Severino of course but also Luis Medina and Roansy Contreras, among many others. We have not, however, made a seven-figure investment in a 7/2 pitcher, at least not to my knowledge. We will see how that does or does not go.

Sanchez, of course, was one of the big-ticket kids, but as Dune says, Severino signed for a much more modest amount, Andujar signed for $750K, not peanuts but not the pinnacle of IFA dollars. Florial signed for $200K, although that was the consequence of his birth certificate fiasco.

pay up (or promise up) early or risk missing out on the known commodities. But do so and there's a chance that known commodities will either get lazy or fail to progress even between the promise and the signing day - they are 14-15 years old after all. That's a good bit of the problem with much of the 7/2/14 class - Amundaray and Arias looked like premium talents at 15, less so at 16.

Now with the hard slotting there's also the risk that you miss out on pop up guys who are either discovered late or whose skills take a big step forward. Jorge Mateo, for instance, didn't have present 80 grade speed when they cut a handshake deal. So the Yankees getting a late start on the class may actually have helped them, at least to an extent.

In comment 14004365 TheMick7 said:

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Antonio Gomez signing his Yankee contract-in the fold!

Yankees are loading up on catchers. They drafted catchers in the 1st and 2nd round last month.

made me look twice.

.

incidentally, Antonio Cabello was a top catching prospect they signed as part of last year's class. He has played, among other positions, center field and led off in the GCL. Just because they're signed as catchers doesn't mean they'll stay catchers. Considering Antonio Gomez's pop times (as low as 1.83 - MLB considers sub-2.00 to be good) he's a good bet to stick though.

And early returns are pretty promising. Cabello, Duran and Pereira are all playing stateside, and reasonably well. We will see on this one.

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Sevi Jr - ( New Window )