Quick Hits on the Bucs' International Signings

Baseball America has announced the Pirates Top Six signings off the international (Latino, basically) market. None are Top Thirty prospects, although the Pirates rate their guys on a little different scale than other teams with decent success, and are of course not in the running for the "can't miss" kids and their hefty bonuses. The capsule reports were written up by Ben Badler of BA:

• 16-year-old Dominican OF Yondry Contreras for $400,000. He has good strength in his 6-foot-1, 175-pound frame with average-to-good speed and good arm strength. Yondry is a righthanded hitter with quick hands at the plate and is learning to take better control of the strike zone (ie, his plate discipline right now isn't very good). He's the Bucs first signing and received the biggest bonus, so he's head of this year's class.
• 16-year-old Dominican C Gabriel Brito for $200,000. Brito is 5-foot-10, 160 pounds with a strong arm, a high baseball IQ and a line-drive stroke from the right side.
• 16-year-old Dominican LHP Domingo Robles for $175,000. He’s 6-foot-2, 170 pounds who features an 87 mph sinker.
• 16-year-old RHP Brian Sousa from Panama for $160,000. He’s a sinker/slider pitcher with good feel for pitching for his age with a 6-foot-3, 165-pound projectable frame.
• 16-year-old Dominican SS Christopher "Banana" Perez for $150,000. He’s 6-foot-1, 170 pounds and a righty who shows good bat speed, a line-drive stroke and uses the whole field.
• 16-year-old Dominican LHP Roger Santana for $100,000. Santana is 6-foot-1, 170 pounds with an 85-89 mph fastball and feel to spin a curveball, which is a pretty good lefty profile for his age.

All are projected to get bigger and stronger (as usual for 16 year-olds), and the pitchers are tall, already work with a sinker and throw with a "downward plane," key Bucco check points for hurlers. So we'll see in six or seven years how the projections and the reality match up.

The Pirates spent $1,185,000 on their early signings. Pittsburgh was assigned a $1,930,400 international pool allotment, so they have $745,400 left in the kitty.