According to Ben Badler, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed Dominican outfielder Pedro Castillo to a $170,000 bonus, making him the highest known bonus for the Pirates during this current July 2nd class at this time. They have now spent at least $520,000 of their $2,044,800 bonus pool, with some of that remaining money set aside for Jean Robert Eusebio, who turns 16 on August 22nd. Earlier today, it was announced that the Pirates signed three players from Colombia.
Castillo turned 17 back on April 23, and he bats and throws left-handed. He played in the Dominican Prospect League last year. Numerous players the Pirates have signed over the years played in that league, which has a lot of the best unsigned talent in the Dominican playing against each other. Castillo was listed at 5’11”, 165 pounds at the time. As with any player that young, there is still room/time to grow. Our signing tracker has been updated.
We have one video on Castillo from October:
The Pirates also signed two other players from the Dominican, although I have no information on them. One is Ivan Rosario, who trained with Raul “Banana” Valera, the trainer for many of the recent top international signings of the Pirates. He’s a right-handed hitter and appears to be a middle infielder based on photos I’ve seen. The other is Matthew Mercedes, who is the son of agent Edgar Mercedes. He is a right-handed hitter. Both players signed today. The signing scouts were Victor Santana and Juan Mercado, two of the Pirates top scouts in the Dominican. If these players are significant, I expect to hear more about them in the near future. Something like a position would be helpful.
