Braves, Padres, A’s Dominate First Day of International Signings

Atlanta Braves

Miguel Sano, Miguel Cabrera, Nomar Mazara – the truly elite talents of the international signing period in the last 20 years have been well paid, but they’ve been well worth it as well. The issue is that many guys who aren’t those types of generational talents have been paid like generational talents, which calls into question anyone who gets big money.

This year, there’s one player who’s been receiving comments about being a generational talent since he was barely old enough to have peach fuzz, and that’s Venezuelan shorstop Kevin Maitan. Jim Callis mentioned on the MLB Pipeline podcast during draft season that Maitan would “easily” have been his top hitter in the draft if the international and domestic markets were combined.

The Braves have not-so-secretly had a deal with Maitan for some time now, and today it became official. While the numbers are mostly rumored due to a strong request of major news organizations not to publish Venezuelan bonus amounts due to the financial unrest in that country, Maitan is rumored to have received somewhere north of $4M.

Maitan is an elite talent with scouts rating his contact ability and power as incredibly elite, with one scout stating that he’d give Maitan better grades than he gave Miguel Cabrera at the same age. Maitan may end up moving to another position down the line as he’s got a solid frame that should fill out some beyond his current 6’2, 175 pound listing.

Maitan wasn’t the only signing for the Braves, however, as they inked 5 top 50 prospects on Saturday, and they have one more, Dominican shortstop Yenci Pena, who is expected to sign with the Braves when he turns 16 in August. The Braves are also still considered favorites to sign Dominican RHP Yefri Del Rosario, which would give them 8 total top 50, equaling the Padres.

Next: A's Sign Cuban