Luis Torrens, one of the top three 16-year-old playing baseball internationally, has signed with the New York Yankees. Want to know what that means? I'll get back to you in a decade.
Scouts love Torrens for his bat. he's built like a catcher. So he might one day be a big league catcher. Or maybe a third baseman. Or maybe he'll never make it. Either way, Torrens gets $1.3 million from the Yankees.
July 2 is feeding frenzy day for Major League Baseball, the first day that clubs can sign 16-year-old international free agents. The frenzy is just as crazy this year, but significantly cheaper for MLB clubs. With international bonuses skyrocketing in recent years, MLB put a cap on what teams can spend on international free agents in a given year. Thus, the top bonuses this year, according to Baseball America, are in the $1.3-1.75 million range, instead of $3-6 million.
Why the change? Because Major League Baseball is una mafia, that's why.
| Related: Learn More About MLB's Seedy Side In Latin America |
Luis Torrens, who hails from Venezuela, has been raised, along with tens of thousands of other kids in Domincan Republic, like a cash crop to be devoured by MLB. Or maybe, just to be chewed up and spit out.
Best of luck to Torrens, and all the other Latino teenagers out there. And congrats to Yankees fans. You got yourself a new ballplayer. Eat him up. Hope he tastes good. Be glad your owners didn't have to pay $5 million for a bad meal.
And stay tuned in ten years.
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