WORLD FARE

Which MLB organizations are signing the most international prospects?

- by BEN BADLER

One of the biggest challenges in evaluating international signing classes is how long it takes for players to become productive major leaguers.

Teams sign players from Latin America as young as 16, so even a player who reaches the major leagues at age 23 could spend six or seven years in the minor leagues. Players like Juan Soto or Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who reach the majors by age 19 or 20, are rare exceptions.

Even then, an MLB debut is just the beginning. At that point, we still don't know what level of production the player will provide over the next several years of team control. It can take more than a decade to fully evaluate how a team fared in a given international signing class.

In the meantime, we can check the temperature of how teams have done on the international market by tracking how many of their signings appeared on a Top 30 Prospects list heading into this season.

The chart at right shows how many international signings from each team rank in a Top 30. Players are included with the team that originally signed them, whether they are still members of that organization or another one. So the Phillies get credit for shortstop Starlyn Caba, whom they signed out of the Dominican Republic but have since traded to the Marlins.

Obviously, this approach has limitations:

Teams with thin farm systems that haven't drafted well should have a higher number of international signings, whereas teams that draft well and trade for prospects from other clubs might have fewer international signings who crack their Top 30.

Teams that frequently trade away prospects create more opportunities for international signings to rank in a Top 30.