Twins considering top amateur Dominican shortstop for International Signing period

Back on Monday, Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs posted an interesting article about international free agents that may be signed on or after July 2nd this year. According to McDaniel, the Twins may already have a deal in place with 16-year old Dominican shortstop Wander Javier for $4 million.

You may know this process best from Miguel Sano years ago, but this should be far less controversial than how that went. Javier is 6'1 and 165 lbs, but like most young prospects he should fill out as he matures. McDaniel notes that Javier does have the capability of sticking at shortstop, which is good considering most players often move off the position as they grow - again, just like Sano, who was originally a shortstop but now has questions if he can even stick at third base. Additionally, Javier has an above-average arm and slightly better-than-average speed while showing average power but an inconsistent hit tool.

I'm no prospect expert, much less an international player expert, but all of this combines together to sound like we're talking about Eduardo Escobar. He was a solid all-around player last year and that means that Javier could be a decent player, but by no means does this sound like we're talking about a top prospect here.

MLB enacted spending pools recently and the Twins are actually mandated to spend under $4 million, but they do have the ability to acquire more pool money from other teams. Therefore, even if Javier will cost around $4 million, the Twins would have the ability to add to their cap through trades, with McDaniel suggesting the Twins could even bump it all the way up to $6 million. With some teams having only $300,000 to spend for this signing period, it shouldn't be difficult for the Twins to accumulate some more cash.

If you'd like, here is a video that McDaniel shared of Wander Javier.