Every year, each Major League team spends millions procuring international talent, mostly in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
Some of those deals pay off, some don\u2019t. And, sometimes, the ones that don\u2019t cost that much really pay off.<\/p>\n
Famously, Houston Astros slugger Jose Altuve is one of the best international signees in history. He was paid just $15,000 when he signed out of Venezuela in 2007.<\/p>\n
Pitcher Keeler Morfe and outfielder Thomas Sosa made more when the Baltimore Orioles signed each out of Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, respectively. But Baseball America is high on the pair.<\/p>\n
The site profiled breakouts prospects for each of MLB\u2019s 30 teams. To be considered, the prospect had to be ranked outside the team\u2019s Top 10 prospects. But it doesn\u2019t mean that the pair aren\u2019t well thought-of.<\/p>\n
Morfe is ranked No. 14 and Sosa is ranked No. 22.<\/p>\n
Morfe, a right-hander, made $200,000 in the O\u2019s 2023 international signing class. He ended last season with Class-A Delmarva.<\/p>\n
In 2023, he pitched in the Dominican Summer League, as he went 1-5 with a 7.01 ERA in nine games, all starts. He struck out 25 and walked 21 in 25.2 innings.<\/p>\n
He greatly improved in 2024, as he started in the DSL and then moved to Delmarva to end the season. He went 0-2 with a 2.76 ERA in 11 starts, with 49 strikeouts and 17 walks in 32.2 innings. Opposing batters hit just .162 against him.<\/p>\n
Baseball America gave him high scouting grades for his fastball (70), sweeper (60) and change-up (60) on a 20-80 scouting scale. His four-seam fastball is already clocked close to 99 mph.<\/p>\n
Sosa was part of Baltimore\u2019s 2022 international signing class and landed a $400,000 signing bonus. He started in the DSL in 2022 and slashed .201\/.294\/.302\/.596 with three home runs and 18 RBI.<\/p>\n
Those numbers greatly improved in 2023 when he moved stateside to play for the O\u2019s Florida Complex League team. He slashed .290\/.385\/.492\/.877 with four home runs and 25 RBI.<\/p>\n
Last season he made his first appearances with full-season affiliates, starting with Delmarva before a promotion to High-A Aberdeen. In 93 games he slashed .230\/.321\/.332\/.653 with four home runs and 20 RBI. He batted 60 points higher at Delmarva in 74 games than he did in Aberdeen in just 19 games.<\/p>\n
Sosa\u2019s best scouting attributes, per Baseball America, are his arm (60) and power (55). He\u2019s already played all three outfield positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every year, each Major League team spends millions procuring international talent, mostly in the Caribbean. Some of those deals pay off, some don\u2019t. And, sometimes, the ones… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n