Dodgers add 63 new prospects during 2017-18 international signing period

The 2017-18 international signing period ended 11 days ago, and the Dodgers brought in 63 new prospects. None of them were of the caliber of Yadier Alvarez or Yusniel Diaz, but there could be some $300,000 gems in the group.

Here’s the list.

Player	Position	Age	Country	Bonus
Darien Nunez	LHP	25	Cuba	unknown*
Gulliermo Zuniga	RHP	19	Colombia	$205,000**
Julio Enrique	OF	17	Cuba	$300,000
Yunior Garcia	OF	16	Dominican Rep.	$300,000
Gorge Heredia	OF	16	Dominican Rep.	$300,000
Andy Pages	3B/OF	17	Cuba	$300,000
Amin Valdez	SS	19	Dominican Rep.	$300,000
Miguel Vargas	3B/1B	16	Cuba	$300,000
Jorbit Vivas	SS	16	Venezuela	$300,000
Brayan Rodriguez	OF	17	Dominican Rep.	$215,000
Axel Acevedo	RHP	17	Dominican Rep.	$200,000
Yhostin Chirinos	SS	17	Venezuela	$200,000
Eddys Leonard	SS	17	Dominican Rep.	$200,000
Eynar Machin	SS	17	Venezuela	$200,000
Jaime Perez	OF	18	Cuba	$200,000
Luisneyer Perez	LHP	18	Venezuela	$200,000
Jeans Garcia	1B/3B	17	Dominican Rep.	$150,000
Carlos Santiago	SS	16	Venezuela	$150,000
Rushenten Tomsjansen	OF	17	Curacao	$125,000
Andres Noriega	C	17	Colombia	$70,000
Jeffry Abreu	RHP	18	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Wilkin Baez	RHP	18	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Hugo Beltran	RHP	18	Colombia	unknown
Israiky Berroa	RHP	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Andrew Budier	LHP	18	Nicaragua	unknown
Jeisson Cabrera	RHP	19	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Darlin Camilo	RHP	18	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Mayron Cathalina	OF	17	Aruba	unknown
Daniel Cruz	RHP	20	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Carlos De Avila	RHP	18	Colombia	unknown
Carlos De Los Santos	RHP	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Jesus Dominguez	C	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Carlos Duran	RHP	16	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Engerbes Escalona	RHP	19	Venezuela	unknown
Alejandro Fernandez	C	17	Venezuela	unknown
Jimmie Feliz	OF	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Harold Galindo	RHP	17	?	unknown
Duany Gomez	RHP	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Stiven Gutierrez	LHP	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Jorge Hernandez	OF	17	Venezuela	unknown
Jenderson Jardines	C	17	Venezuela	unknown
Abel Moya	RHP	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Jose Nava	3B	19	Venezuela	unknown
Vladimir Perez	SS	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Benony Robles	LHP	17	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Randy Rodriguez	2B	22	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Jesus Valdez	2B	20	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Imanol Vargas	OF	19	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Jonathan Vasquez	RHP	18	Dominican Rep.	unknown
Fernando Villicana	LHP	16	Mexico	unknown
Total				$4,015,000
International pool				$4,750,000
Difference				$735,000

*- Bonus amount doesn’t count because he doesn’t fall under the international signing rules.
**- Only $5,000 of the bonus counts toward the pool, per MLB’s declaration.

I was able to track down 50 of the 63 international players the Dodgers signed over the past year. Many of the “unknown” bonus amounts are inconsequential and don’t count toward the bonus pool. The highest-ranked prospect on my Top 100 of the guys listed above is Vargas, who checked in at No. 51. I also had Heredia at No. 92, Zuniga at 96 and Leonard just slightly on the outside looking in.

Here’s a refresher on the international signing rules.

The international signing period, known as the July 2 period, is the time when teams can sign international prospects not subject to the MLB Draft. There used to be looser signing rules, but the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has put an end to a team going over its bonus pool, as the Dodgers did two years ago.

Since the Dodgers were a luxury tax team, they were allotted $4.75 million to sign players from July 2, 2017 through June 15. Of the reported bonuses I could find, the Dodgers spent just north of $4 million in that time. Any prospect signed for $10,000 or less does not count toward the bonus pool. The age cutoff for players used to be 23 years old, but it has now been raised to 25 years old, which was on display with the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes over the winter. The full rules area available here.

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The Dodgers will not be limited by the $300,000 maximum per prospect rule for the upcoming signing period. They’re the favorites to sign Venezuelan catcher Diego Cartaya. He’s 16 years old and ranked as the top international prospect available, according to MLB Pipeline. They’re also the favorites to sign the No. 30 prospect in Jerming Rosario. We’ll have a full recap of any significant signings.