Cardinals Sign Two International Prospects

According to MLB.com reporter Jesse Sanchez, the Cardinals have signed Alvaro Seijas, a Venezuelan pitcher and #11 on MLBPipeline.com’s Top 30 International Prospects for a deal worth #762, 500. The Cardinals also signed Dominican shortstop Raffy Ozuna for $600,000. The pair are the first signings for the Cardinals in this international signing period, which runs until June 1, 2016.

At the beginning of each international signing period, all 30 Major League teams are allotted a certain amount of money: a $700,000 base and a bonus amount scaling based on the team’s record in 2014. The worse the team was, the money it gets: the Arizona Diamondbacks were allotted an extra $5,393, 900. The Los Angeles Angels, who had the best, netted only an extra $1, 968,600 on top of their base pool. The Cardinals were given an extra $2,020,300 to play with.

For the price, Seijas could very well be a steal. Scouts have raved about Seijas. The 6’1″, 175-pound product from Maracay, Venezuela (home to a size-able number of big leaguers, including Carlos Guillen, whom Seijas trained with) has a fastball that has topped out at 94 mph. That fastball, along with his make up and live arm, led Baseball America to declare him the best pitcher available in this international signing period. His secondary pitches will improve as he develops, and this could be exacerbated by the fact that he will now be under the umbrella of one of the best farm organizations in baseball.

Seijas will benefit greatly from being in the Cardinals organization. Many pitchers from the Cardinals farm system have made it to the major league level including Carlos Martinez (pictured above). Pitching is one of the many strengths of this farm system and we could see Seijas in the majors ruining many a batter’s day in the not-too-distant future.

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