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Mets Sign Venezuelan Flamethrower Richard Brito

By Tim Ryder

July 2, 2020 No comments

Richard Brito (Photo: Baseball America)

According to Ben Badler of Baseball America, the New York Mets have signed international free agent pitcher Richard Brito, 21, to a contract.

Per Badler’s article:

By conventional signing standards in Latin America […], Brito is a relatively late developer, but he’s the same age as the college juniors who were just picked in the draft last month […] Brito complements his riding fastball with a tight-spinning slider”

Brito, a 6’4″ right-hander, joins fellow Venezuelan Robert Dominguez — the 18-year-old signed in January 2020 for $95,000 — in the Mets’ minor league system. Baseball America ranked Dominguez as the top pitcher in this signing class.

Both Brito and Dominguez are included in the Mets’ 2019-2020 international draft class, as Major League Baseball has pushed back the end of this year’s signing period to October 15 as opposed to the normal June 15 cutoff.

Here’s Brito throwing a bullpen session sitting upper-90s and touching 100 MPH with his heater:

Between New York’s 2019 top pitching draft picks, Matthew Allan and Josh Wolf, their 2020 value pick J.T. Ginn, and Brito and Dominguez, the Mets’ pipeline is beginning to load up with young, talented arms.