It appears that the Pittsburgh Pirates will be busy in Panama when the 2023-24 international signing period begins in January of 2024. We heard early reports that they were favorites to sign two players from Panama during this upcoming signing period. You can add a third player to that list.
Left-handed pitcher Angel Soriano will be eligible to sign for the 2024 class, and the Pirates are the favorites. He’s 6’4″, 185 pounds, with a ton of pitching experience for his age, including overseas tournaments. He already has a nice feel for three pitches, with the ability to throw strikes. He is an aggressive strike-thrower on the mound. He also has a lot of projection left with his frame.
While the Pirates aren’t specifically targeting Panama for talent, scout Jose Pineda appears to be doing a great job of identifying talent early in the country. The two earlier players mentioned both have big potential.
Javier Acevedo is a left-handed hitting catcher with skills and upside on both sides of the ball. He has a medium frame and he’s athletic for a catcher. At the plate he has what is described as an easy/smooth swing, with a feel for barreling up pitches.
The amazingly named Iverson Allen is a center fielder with plenty of raw tools, though he has taken some big steps since our reports last year. He’s a gifted athlete, whose father was a national basketball player in Panama.
All three players will be 16 years old when they sign.
The current signing class still remains at 22 players. The Pirates nearly spent their entire $5,825,500 bonus pool with those first-day players, which included highly-ranked prospects in Raymond Mola and Jun-Seok Shim. According to a source, the Pirates have just $250,500 remaining in that bonus pool, which is a hard cap, though trading for bonus pool space is available again this year. This period runs through December 15, 2023.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Luis Heredia says “go get em kid”.
6’4 lefty? sign me up baby
Those highlights in Spanish which I do not understand makes it seem like it was the greatest play ever.
It would be great to establish a pipeline from Panama and even though I’m guessing it would be coincidental, I’ll think of such a pipeline as the legacy of Sangy!
Iverson Allen is 6’4″ and 184 lbs at 15? Very interesting 🙂
That’s the height/weight for Soriano, the pitcher. He could be 16 by now, not sure. Being eligible for the 2023-24 class just means he didn’t turn 16 before September 1st last year. I don’t know the height/weight of Allen, but here’s a video of his defense. He looks to be a decent height unless the other outfielder is 5’6″ https://www.tiktok.com/@mlbptyoficial/video/7195380619851926789
When do the FCL and DSL seasons start? And just one FCL team again? And two DSL teams?
Ooopss!! meant Soriano. Too busy thinking Iverson and practice and used his name. Even at 16, and a lefty to boot, very interesting prospect to follow if he indeed hits the system for the Bucs.
I hope if Iverson Allen makes it to the MLB he is #3 , wears a sleeve, a headband rather than a hat, and simply goes by Iverson. Is that too much to ask? Oh, and leads the league in assists and steals.
and coach chokes …
hope the Phillies sign him
First question that anyone connected with Pirates media needs to be about…..practice 🙂
The response had better be something like this:
“We sitting in here—I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talking about practice,” Iverson said. “I mean, listen: We talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last. Not the game. We talking about practice, man
I think I read that Iverson is broke, but in a couple of years he starts getting some outrageous amount of $$$$. I think it was in the 30 million a year for 20 years. I’m probably delusional, but I have papers. Just sayin.
My inquiring mind had to know so I googled. Gets a trust set up by Rebok starting when he is 55.
I hope they sign a dude name Mora James. Go on a rant about playoffs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7fjDS0jKiE
Maybe a Gundy Mike? Starts yelling, “I’M A MAN! I’M 40!!!”
Or Edward’s Herman because he going to play to win the game.
I could do this all day. A Leach Mike would be a great interview in the dug out mid-game. Gone too soon.
Sure beats the old Yoslan Herrera days.
Only name I want to hear attached to the Pirates is Roki Sasaki!!!
But also, this is promising to hear. Keeping the international pipeline flowing. I think this is going to be a really strong year in terms of the Pirates uptick in the IFA market finally showing the fruits of their labor.
Especially if he pulls an ohtani and decides to enter the MLB early, we do seem to be building a very strong pipeline from asia….
I’m super stoked for Shim as it is
I hear that Rocky Saki is pretty good, but the hangover is ferocious.
His hangover, I mean splitter, was devastating