O's add Braylin Tavera at $1.7 million as signing period begins (updated)

A new international signing period arrived today in Major League Baseball and the Orioles have announced a class of 24 players. This includes 16-year-old outfielder Braylin Tavera from the Dominican Republic. The 6-foot-2, 175-lb. right-handed hitter agreed to a bonus of $1.7 million, according to MLB.com, and that is the largest ever given by the club to an international amateur.

Tavera, who profiles as a speedy center fielder, also features some power potential and gets scouting grades of 50 or 55 across the board from MLBPipeline.com. He ranks No. 18 on Baseball America's listing of the highest projected signing bonuses in this class and No. 22 on MLBPipeline.com's listing of the top 50 international prospects.

This is the second year in a row when the O's establish a new record for largest bonus. Last January, they added their first two international players to sign to seven-figure bonuses, getting Dominican-born catcher Samuel Basallo for $1.3 million and Venezuelan shortstop Maikol Hernández for $1.2 million.

The Orioles today also have added 22-year-old Cuban infielder César Prieto for $650,000, according to MLB.com, and Dominican shortstop Edwin Amparo, also for $650,000. They added Dominican-born shortstop Leandro Arias for $600,000, per MLB.com. Arias is ranked as the No. 46 prospect on the MLBPipeline.com top 50 prospects list. He's a 16-year-old switch-hitter who gets 50 and 55 grades from MLBPipeline.com. The O's also picked up Dominican outfielder Thomas Sosa, reportedly for $400,000.

With that bonus information, the club has dispensed $4 million in bonuses to five players of its allotted $6,262,600. During a Zoom interview, the club's senior director of international scouting, Koby Perez, said the team has exhausted its entire bonus pool amount for these 24 players and the club is already working on next year's class and the class after. Teams can still sign players for $10,000 or less and that will not count against the pool.

Prieto, 22, has played since 2017 in a Cuban professional league. Last season, he batted .403/.463/.579/1.042 with 21 doubles, seven triples, seven homers and 51 RBIs in 74 games. He showed amazing bat control, drawing 31 walks with just 11 strikeouts. During the 2020 season, he had a 40-game hitting streak.

Prieto is the only player added today who already has pro experience and also is not either 16 or 17. He could enter the high minors in the O's farm system this year.

"We're super excited about adding César," said Perez. "He is a high-profile Cuban who has a very good track record of hitting. He's been the most productive hitter in Cuba for the last couple years. We were in a good situation. We scouted him heavily since he was cleared by MLB to be eligible to sign in November. We had the likes of Mike Elias go see him personally, and myself. We spent a lot of time scouting this player, getting to know him, and we just felt he was a very good for for us.

"We were fortunate to be honest in the timing he came out. You know most of the other teams had committed their pools, and we were able to provide a good place for him. Even though the money - his profile doesn't exactly amount to the money. That being said, he chose us. He'd liked the opportunity that the Orioles can offer him as compared to other teams that were involved. You know, he decided on us. There were other suitors. We're excited he wants to take his journey with us. The recruiting tool of Brandon (Hyde) and Mike didn't hurt."

Tavera has the talent to live up to his bonus, added Perez.

"He's got a chance at five tools. He does everything easily and effortlessly. He was a player who was highly coveted by, you know, most of the teams in the league. A lot of it had to do with us offering opportunity. Us not having given out these types of bonuses in our history, it makes the player feel special to be the highest paid international player. I think that really helped us land Braylin, because there was a lot of competition for his services," Perez added.

The Orioles today added 12 from the Dominican Republic, 10 from Venezuela, and one each from Cuba and Panama. The O's have never signed a Venezuelan amateur that made it all the way to the majors with them. Lefty pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez came close, but was traded when he reached Double-A.

"There is a lot of talent in Venezuela," said Perez. "It is a difficult country to get to right now with the politics. But I go there every month and we have a staff there, which we didn't have in the past. We've been scouting that area very, very well. Last year, we gave Maikol Hernández a seven-figure bonus and we really believe in his talent. So we think that is going to be the start of a good pipeline of Venezuelan players."

The Orioles also added:

* Outfielder Jean Mata, Venezuela
* Catcher José Noguera, Venezuela
* Shortstop Cristian Benavides, Venezuela
* Right-hander Ezequiel Bonilla, Panama
* Shortstop Edrei Campos, Dominican Republic
* Shortstop Elis Cuevas, Dominican Republic
* Right-hander Adrián Delgado, Venezuela
* Infielder Aron Estrada, Venezuela
* Right-hander Elías Moscoso, Venezuela
* Catcher Andrés Nolaya, Venezuela
* Right-hander Jesús Palacios, Venezuela
* Left-hander Andrés Parra, Venezuela
* Shortstop Fernando Peguero, Dominican Republic
* Right-hander Juan Peña, Dominican Republic
* Outfielder Raylin Ramos, Dominican Republic
* Outfielder Yirber Ruiz, Dominican Republic
* Shortstop Adrian Santos, Dominican Republic
* Right-hander Henry Tejada, Dominican Republic
* Infielder Alfredo Velásquez, Venezula

The Orioles' signing classes under Perez and Elias are now starting to impact the club's top 30 prospects list. Hernández is ranked as the Orioles' No. 19 prospect on their MLBPipeline.com top 30, and Basallo is No. 24. On that same list, outfielder Luis Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic, who signed for $475,000 on July 2, 2019, is ranked No. 28.

The international marketplace will be critical for the Orioles as they continue to build what Elias has called the elite talent pipeline to eventually produce a winner at the big league level.

"These signings today, we've been working with them and their agents for three years," Perez noted. "That is the reason we've been able to go a little bit toward the top of the signing classes. In future years, we'll continue to do that. It takes time to get these players to commit to us and we've been working on these players for two or three years."

We have opened the 2021-22 International Signing Period with 24 contract agreements. #RisingTide pic.twitter.com/F1nCex6gWj

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) January 15, 2022

Introducing Braylin Tavera, the highest-paid international signee in club history 🇩🇴 pic.twitter.com/oN5q5YD9qL

-- Orioles Player Development (@OsPlayerDev) January 15, 2022