With today being the day Major League teams can sign International Free Agents, the Mets have been busy signing four players from Baseball America’s Top 50 group of prospects. The headliner is SS Ronny Mauricio who received a $2.1 million signing bonus.
Mauricio was ranked the number three prospect overall, and he has received a team record $2.1 million signing the bonus. The record was previously held by Amed Rosario, who received a $1.75 million bonus five years to the day. At the moment, Rosario is the top ranked prospect in the Mets farm system, and to some, he is the top rated prospect in all of baseball.
Mauricio is 6’2″ shortstop and weighing in at 165 lbs. Coincidentally, those measurements are similar to Rosario’s measurements five years ago. The 16-year-old Mauricio has a smooth glove, strong arm, and a promising hitter. Like all players his age, Mauricio is a project, but Mauricio has the tools to be an outstanding baseball player.
Signing Mauricio marks the second time in three years the Mets have signed one of the top International Free Agents. In 2015, the Mets signed Andres Gimenez, who was ranked as the second best prospect in that free agent class.
Joining Mauricio in this year’s signing class is OF Adrian Hernandez. Hernandez received a $1.5 million bonus and is ranked the no. 16 prospect by Baseball America.
Others players confirmed signed by the Mets
- OF Stanly Consuegra, $500,000 bonus, no. 40 ranked by BA
- SS Federico Polanco, Dominican Republic, $325,000
- OF Patricio Diaz, Dominican Republic, $100,000
- OF Eduardo Salazar, Venezuela
- RHP Robert Colina, Venezuela
For those interested in seeing these players play, they will likely being their professional careers in the Dominican Summer Leagues. The upper echelon of prospects will make their way stateside within a year or so as we have seen with Gimenez this year playing in Columbia.
Overall, this is a life changing day for these young players and their families. Congratulations to them, and the best of luck to them as they are now officially professional baseball players.
Huge shout out to Ben Badler of Baseball America that does a terrific job of covering international free agency.
Good stuff. Line picking up a few more first round picks. Nice to see the Mets continue to be aggressive with the international signings. We give them a lot of shit about not spending, so give them some credit here.
I feel like Ronny Mauricio, Luis Carpio, and Andres Gimenez are all on the same level of prospect when they signed, but we have so many ss prospects!
True but there’s a chance a few of them don’t stay at SS & some could be used at pieces for a trade. I’d really like to see what happens with Gimenez as he moves up once Rosario is already at SS. Who has the better glove? Can Rosario’s bat move to 3rd? Will Guillorme’s bat be enough to be a starter so he can be at SS? Gimenez has the makings of a an advanced bat at 18 already. Lets see what happens.
Yeah I wouldn’t put much stock in a teenage SS, that’s where all the best athletes spend most of their time until their body changes and competition increases. From what I’ve always heard, Guillorme was the best defensive ss in the system. He was always pegged as the glove of the bench at the MLB level because he never hit up until this year. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to swing the bat well. Now the Gimenez question is way too early, but it is interesting. Just today I found out he’s about 3.5 yrs younger than his competition…..WOW!!!
Actually, Guillorme has hit before this. He hit .317 in Savannah two years ago, good enough to help him win the league’s MVP award.
Its not really an issue. First, Carpio isn’t really being used as a shortstop anymore, anyway: 13 games there compared with 57 at 2B.
Some of these guys won’t make the majors, or will just be back-ups or 4A types. And some will become minor league free agents and leave the Mets org before they reach the majors. The crowd always manages to thin out as the levels get harder.
That is very true, especially seeing that Columbia’s infield rn is made up of 3 shortstops playing 2nd, SS, and 3rd in a rotation
Lagares started his career as a shortstop as have many elite defensive outfielders!
Oh really? Wow I didn’t know that!
Desmond Lindsay too
I see it as Guillorme being the backup to Rosario at SS and Gimenez at 2B but it will be fun seeing how it plays out.
He has a unique style of hitting that has been successful and hopefully will continue to be as he moves up the ladder.