The international amateur period opened and I imported the class into my spreadsheet, revealing a moderately strong and fairly well balanced class.
I started with offers to SP Alaniz ($780,000), SS Naranjo ($250,000), CF Paniagua ($1.6 million), and SP Fernandez ($250,000).
SP Alaniz and SP Fernandez signed immediately. Alaniz projects to have 20 stuff, though only 12 control. His three pitch repertoire includes an average sinker 89-91 MPH, as well as a plus curveball and slider. At 16 years old, he has plenty of time to develop and add velocity.
Fernandez, 16, also projects to have stronger stuff than control. He pairs this with a four pitch mix of three projected average pitches (fastball 85-87 MPH, cutter, curveball) and a plus changeup.
A few days later, SS Naranjo signed for $282,000. Naranjo projects to have an average bat with above average avoid k. His speed is very good, but his defense is only average. He is 18.
Though I really wanted CF Paniagua, I quickly had to decide if this was a good time or not to overspend the signing cap. I ultimately decided against this and made offers to two new players: SS Guerrero ($670,000) and SP Masuoka ($1.04 million).
The price on both continued to rise late through July and I refocused singularly on SS Guerrero. He eventually signed for $1.68 million. Guerrero, 16, projects to be a slightly above average bat. It is unclear where he will end up defensively. This was definitely an overpay for him, but I wanted to add one more player instead of leaving money on the table here.
Overall, this isn't the best haul, but objectively it is another decent haul: 2 of the top 5 and 4 of the top 13, all while staying under the cap. Perhaps next year will be the first year that I spend big.
We will see how the Expos fared through July next...