Updating the International Player Rankings

Now that the dust has settled on teams’ pursuit of Roki Sasaki, and clubs have signed most of their 2025 international prospects, it is time to turn our attention to the international pros whose 2025 seasons will soon get underway and to the tippy top of the 2026 international amateur class. All of my top 2025 international prospects have now signed. Twins outfielder Carlos Taveras was the last from that group to put pen to paper, signing a couple of days ago for a shade over $1 million. The players and rankings from that class have been archived on their own page of The Board, including the couple of Japanese pros who came over from NPB this offseason. Remaining on the active International Players page (which you’re going to want to open in a new tab) are the foreign pros I think readers should know about and follow for this season and beyond, as well as a couple of amateur players from the upcoming 2026 class (more on those lads in a few paragraphs).

First, let’s highlight some players, touching first on the foreign pros. Here are the foreign pro players who I think readers should be following this year, as they might have free agent relevance this coming offseason. This group has either already met the age and foreign pro league playing time requirements that would grease the wheels for their posting to MLB, or will do so this year. The Cuban players in Japan would probably need to sever ties with the Cuban government in order to come to the United States for work. Again, each of these players has a scouting report over on the International Players tab:

• Munetaka Murakami, 3B, Yakult Swallows
• Liván Moinelo, SP, Fukuoka Hawks
• Atsuki Taneichi, SP, Chiba Lotte Marines
• Raidel Martinez, SIRP, Nagoya Dragons
• Kyle Hart, SP, NC Dinos
• Kazuma Okamoto, 1B, Yomiuri Giants
• Kaima Taira, SIRP, Saitama Lions
• Tatsuya Imai, MIRP, Saitama Lions
• Baek-ho Kang, 1B, KT Wiz
• Ryosuke Ohtsu, SP, Fukuoka Hawks
• Carter Stewart, SP, Fukuoka Hawks
• Yukiya Saito, SIRP, Hokkaido Fighters

Beyond that potential 2026 group, there are also many other players for future years on The Board. Below, I want to highlight a few players whose Premier12 tournament performances late last year moved the needle for me in one direction or another. Their reports have gotten a fresh coat of paint.

Moved Up:
Hiroto Takahashi, RHP, Chunichi Dragons
Do Yeong Kim, 3B, KIA Tigers

Added:
Chihiro Sumida, LHP, Saitama Seibu Lions

Moved Down:
Shosei Togo, RHP, Yomiyuri Giants

I also want to give a hearty electronic handshake to Taiwanese center fielder Chieh-Hsien Chen, who carried his team to an improbable and amazing tournament victory over Japan, a team that hadn’t lost in international competition since 2019. Chen is 31 years old and seems unlikely to be a big leaguer, so he’s not on The Board, but he was chiefly responsible for the most significant baseball victory in the history of his country, and this post would feel incomplete if he weren’t mentioned.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the next year’s amateur class. As seasoned readers and baseball fans are probably aware, teams and prospects in this market often come to verbal agreements years before players are actually age-eligible to sign. Indeed, a couple of players for next year’s class have had verbal commitments in place since at least 2023. In an effort to land the players they think are best in a given class, teams are increasingly trying to offer big money sooner than their competitors, a strategy that has escalated to the point that 12- and 13-year-olds are agreeing to six- and seven-figure deals with powerful, global brands. There are a handful multi-million dollar 2028 commits already. It’s a difficult situation that lacks perfect solutions. As I and others have written, this system is rife with abuse and underhanded dealing, even as it delivers life-changing money to dozens of amateur players every signing period. I’m also sensitive to MLB’s incentives, and to the possibility that the justifiable moral outcry that results from the league failing to enforce its own rules might pave the way for the implementation of an international draft (assuming the league and the MLBPA are able to agree on a format). Such an exercise would address some of the more unsavory aspects of the market, but would also remove player agency from this process.

There is also the issue of teams breaking verbal deals with players when their athleticism doesn’t trend to the team’s liking, or when other, better players emerge later in the process. Because so few of these verbal deals are reported when they’re first agreed to, teams can sometimes renege on them without anyone outside the international training or scouting community knowing about it, with little recourse available to the player. There are teams that habitually over-commit their pool space knowing they’ll triage deals at some point down the line, and some of my sources believe that the late action and musical chairs that occurred as a result of clubs’ pursuit of Sasaki (which, thankfully, resulted in the players getting more money than their original deals) has made teams even more comfortable with this dynamic. I’m apprehensive about publishing bonus amounts at this time because they might change at the discretion of the team, but perhaps doing so will make it less likely that that occurs.

I have added four prospects to The Board (with their signing day age) who are rumored to be among the higher-paid players in the 2026 class. They are:

• Luis Hernandez, SS, Venezuela, San Francisco Giants
• Francisco Renteria, CF, Venezuela, Philadelphia Phillies
• Angel Nuñez Jr., CF, Dominican Republic, Cincinnati Reds
• Wandy Asigen, SS, Dominican Republic, New York Yankees

Again, their scouting reports are over on The Board if you’d like to know more. My sources tend to agree that Hernandez will get close to $5 million (he’s quite exciting), with Renteria in line for a little more than $4 million, Nuñez in the $3 million to $3.5 million range, and Asigen in the $3.5 million to $4 million range. Unlike many international amateur players, this group has been pretty active in heavily scouted environments during the last several months. Hernandez played in the Venezuelan pro summer league last year and is also rostered by Leones de Caracas in their Winter League, while Renteria, Nuñez, and Asigen all participated in WBSC activity during the fall of 2024. I’m comfortable putting them on The Board because I have a better idea of their talent thanks to their recent participation in these events.

I’m still in the early days of focused sourcing for next year’s class, and while I do have more information to disseminate, I don’t yet have a thorough enough understanding of these players’ talent to rank and grade them. As is typically the case with this market, bonus amounts permeate the scouting community through word of mouth, so the figures my sources tell me can vary a bit. Everyone in the below group is expected to get at least $2.5 million on the low end and $4 million on the high end. This is a bit of a departure for the Cardinals, who often have late-market money with which to pursue the Won-Bin Chos of the world. Note that the Yankees will likely have to trade for bonus pool space in order to honor their commitments, which is something that at least a couple of teams have to do every year.

• Victor Valdez, 3B, Dominican Republic, Boston Red Sox
• Yeison Horton, SS, Dominican Republic, New York Yankees
• Elian Rosario, OF, Dominican Republic, Texas Rangers
• Jeancer Custodio, OF, Dominican Republic, Pittsburgh Pirates
• Gregory Pio, SS, Dominican Republic, Seattle Mariners
• Enmanuel Luna, OF, Dominican Republic, St. Louis Cardinals

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