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.
