International signing day arrives; Crews rated No. 2 prospect (updated)

Scan the Nationals’ current roster, and it’s easy to lump young, core players into one of three categories: Those who were acquired via the draft, those who were acquired via trade and those who were acquired via international signing.

That final group, the international free agents, is by far the smallest group, which underscores just how difficult it is to discover and sign good players from other countries at age 16 and then develop them into big leaguers. But it is a vital part of roster building, and the Nats know they need to improve in that area just as they’ve been trying to improve in the drafting and developing of young American players.

The two notable homegrown Latin American players currently on the major league roster are Luis García Jr. and Jose A. Ferrer. García, still only 24, was signed out of the Dominican Republic for $1.3 million way back in 2016, making him the longest tenured player in the entire organization. Ferrer, also 24, was signed one year later in 2017 for a mere $100,000.

Also on the 40-man roster is Andry Lara, the Venezuelan right-hander signed in 2019 for $1.25 million who finally enjoyed his breakthrough season and earned a promotion to Double-A Harrisburg.

But that’s it on the 40-man roster. Other recent Latin American signees like Armando Cruz (21), Jeremy De La Rosa (23), Cristhian Vaquero (20) and Victor Hurtado (17) are still either in the lower levels of the minors or haven’t performed well enough yet to climb the organizational ladder.

That makes today an important one for the Nationals. The arrival of Jan. 15 means the opening of the international signing period for all MLB clubs, and usually a flurry of moves.

The Nats have been linked to two highly ranked Venezuelan players: shortstop Brayan Cortesia and catcher Daniel Hernandez. Those two are expected to receive the largest signing bonuses out of the team’s total pool of $6,261,600, with the rest of this year’s class receiving minimal bonuses.

Leading the organization’s efforts is Victor Rodriguez, promoted late last year to international scouting director after serving one year as director of Latin American scouting. Rodriguez replaces Fausto Severino, who served only one year as the head of international scouting following the resignation of longtime director Johnny DiPuglia.

UPDATE: The Nationals announced the signings of 14 international players this afternoon, headlined by Cortesia and Hernandez. Those two both rank in the top-20 prospects in this year's class by Baseball America. The Nats signed one more player who ranks in BA's top 100: Dominican second baseman Ronny Bello (98th).

* Baseball Prospectus unveiled its new top 101 prospects list Tuesday evening (apparently they just have to be different from everyone else and add one extra player to their list), and three members of the Nationals made it.

Dylan Crews, you won’t be surprised to learn, was rated the No. 2 prospect in the sport, trailing only Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony. Another Boston prospect, infielder Kristian Campbell, was listed third.

Crews’ inclusion that high on the list was expected. Perhaps less expected was the rise of Jarlin Susana to the No. 47 spot in these rankings. The flamethrowing right-hander took a major leap last season, finally harnessing his triple-digit fastball and reaching high Single-A Wilmington.

Not far behind Susana is another hard-throwing righty, Travis Sykora, who checks in at No. 59. The 2023 third-round pick turned heads in his first professional season with 129 strikeouts and only 27 walks in 85 innings with low Single-A Fredericksburg.

* The Nationals announced a continuation of their Spanish-language radio affiliation with Costa Media, a deal that will run through the 2027 season.

All Nats games will continue to be heard in Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera WFAX 100.7 FM/1220 AM, with Luciano Rodriguez and Gustavo Salazar returning to their play-by-play and color commentator roles.

* Joan Adon cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. The right-hander, who was designated for assignment last week to clear a 40-man roster spot for newly acquired infielder Amed Rosario, will remain in the organization but would need to be added back to the 40-man roster if the Nationals wanted to call him up.