In 2016 the Padres went bonkers on the international signing market, spending darn near $80 million (including taxes) on new young talent.
In doing that they knew they would be restricted in the 2017 international signing period, meaning they could not give any single player more than a $300,000 signing bonus. Obviously that did not deter the Friars from adding more talent to their system.
The new signing period started on July 2nd and according to Baseball America San Diego has already added 25 international players from five different countries. The 25 signees are tied with the Dodgers for 2nd-most in baseball so far, one player behind the 26 the Astros have agreed with.
Most of their additions came from Venezuela (12 signees) but they also made a heavy push in Mexico, adding six players from our neighbors to the south (five of them pitchers).
The full list of Padres signings through July 5th looks like this:
Manuel Partida, LHP, Mexico
Brandon Valenzuela, C, Mexico
Omar Cruz, LHP, Mexico
Alan Mundo, RHP, Mexico
Alfredo Castaneda, RHP, Mexico
Sergio Carrizosa, RHP, Mexico
Frank Lopez, RHP, Venezuela
Angel Solarte, OF, Venezuela
Emmanuelle Guerra, SS, Venezuela
Matias Polanco, C, Venezuela
Yerri Landines, SS, Venezuela
Laurbert Arias, RHP, Venezuela
Jesus Cisneros, RHP, Venezuela
Mauricio Rodriguez, RHP, Venezuela
Carlos Guarate, RHP, Venezuela
Jesus Gonzalez, LHP, Venezuela
Nick Rios, LHP, Venezuela
Miguel Rondon, RHP, Venezuela
Yeison Santana, SS, Dominican Republic
Luis Paez, SS, Dominican Republic
Cristian Heredia, OF, Dominican Republic
Julio de la Cruz, SS/OF, Dominican Republic
Junior Perez, OF, Dominican Republic
Edgar Martinez, RHP, Cuba
Jarryd Dale, SS, Australia
That last name on the list is intriguing. Jarryd Dale is a 16-year-old playing in the Australian Baseball League against grown men. In fact one of his teammates with the first place Melbourne Aces was Jeremy Guthrie, the right-handed starter who was briefly with the Padres organization and pitched in the World Series for the Kansas City Royals.
In 24 games against adults Dale, who is already physically imposing at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds at the age of 16, has a home run and 10 RBI. His father Phil Dale was an Olympian for Australia and pitched in the Reds organization.
The international signing period is open until next June so the Padres are likely to add more players to the system in the coming months.
