BALTIMORE — For the past six years, Koby Perez has overseen the Orioles’ international scouting department — a department that was essentially nonexistent before he was brought on by general manager Mike Elias only two months after Elias’ hiring.
Perez, Baltimore’s vice president of international scouting and operations, helped turn the O’s into players on the international market. The organization’s Minor League pipeline is now filled with talent from all over the world, with some — such as catcher Samuel Basallo (the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 13 overall) — getting close to the Majors.
The O’s added 22 more players to their international program on Wednesday, the first day of this year’s international signing period. The class was headlined by Dominican shortstop José Peña, who received $1 million of Baltimore’s pool money (totaling $6.9 million).
In case you missed it, MLB Pipeline’s Jesse Borek wrote more about Peña (MLB Pipeline’s No. 47 international prospect in the 2025 class) in a story on Wednesday.
Here are some of the other notable players in the Orioles’ latest international signing class.
Johanse Gómez, OF, U.S. Virgin Islands — $747,500
Gómez was born in St. Thomas, but the 17-year-old has spent most of his teenage years in the Dominican Republic, where his parents are from. He is bilingual (Spanish and English), which puts him “a little bit ahead of the game as far as being able to communicate and adapting to the USA,” Perez said.
A toolsy athlete who likely profiles as a corner outfielder, Gómez’s top tool is his power, which should continue to develop as he gets into Baltimore’s player development system.
“We really like his bat, we think his bat is going to play. He’s a big, strong kid, and they’re young, so sometimes they get very big, as we know,” Perez said. “We feel good about the bat.”
Meykel Baro, INF, Cuba — $497,500
Ronald Terrero, INF, Cuba — $397,500
Yeison Acosta, C, Cuba — $372,500
Yunior Villavicencio, LHP, Cuba — $37,500
The Orioles signed four players out of Cuba, which Perez credited to the work that his scouting team put in during recent years.
“These Cuban players, we see them in 13-U tournaments, 14-U tournaments, throughout the world when they play in Asia and South America,” Perez said. “So now, being that we’ve been here over five years, we’ve got track records where we can make decisions on these players.
In Cuba, they play a lot of baseball, so we’re able to have a lot of statistics from youth leagues and feel comfortable about them when they choose to defect and we try to capitalize on that, knowing them from the international tournaments.”
The top Cuban joining Baltimore’s pipeline may be Baro, a 16-year-old from Havana who projects as a potential five-tool player in the future.
“We feel that it’s a bat shortstop with defensive tools, athletic ability,” Perez said of Baro. “He’s got all the ingredients, and we think with our system that we have in place as far as player development, he can be a special-type player.”
Ricardo Chirinos, C, Venezuela — $107,500
This last name should be familiar to Orioles fans. That’s because the Venezuelan catcher’s uncle is Robinson Chirinos, the former big league backstop who was hired to be the O’s bench coach earlier this offseason.
The elder Chirinos has returned to Baltimore, where he spent the final season of his 11-year MLB tenure in 2022. Now, his 16-year-old nephew will try to get there in the future, as he’ll begin his professional career in the Orioles’ system.
