MLB Pipeline Ranking 16 year old, 6’3”, 175 lb. outfielder Victor Hurtado (Sabana Perdida, Dominican Republic) 20th overall on the list of 2024 international prospects.
angel ferrisThe 6-foot-3, 185-pound shortstop from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic was No. 23 on MLB Pipeline’s list.
Baseball America has a left-handed hitting outfielder at No. 7 and a right-handed infielder at No. 16 after the Washington Nationals signed Hurtado (reportedly $2.8 million) and Feliz ($1.7 million) this week. It was noted that there was .
The two were top prospects in the Nationals’ 2024 international free agent class, which totaled 20 players signed by the organization.
In 2023, they have signed 14 players. In 2022, there were 10 people. We have also signed 10 people in 2021. In past years, MASN’s Mark Zuckerman noted on Twitter, it has tended to be a few big trades, followed by smaller deals with a smaller group of players.
Why did we take a different approach this time?
The Nationals have used up most of their pool on top Latin American prospects in recent years, which will leave them with some low-seven-figure bonuses this year. https://t.co/DQgbwxvXRX
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) January 15, 2024
“Every year is different,” recently promoted international director Fausto Severino told reporters earlier this week when asked about the club’s approach to this winter’s contract period.
“Every year we have a different offensive plan. This year we got Hurtado and Feliz, and over time we’ve been able to attack other players. A lot of the kids in this market are very young, so we’re going to We end up getting a lot of kids who are late bloomers, kids who come later in the game that we really like and follow. It’s a similar mentality. And we had the budget, so we went looking for a few other candidates besides those two.”
But the top two prospects, Hurtado and Feliz, are impressive.
“Hurtado has a sweet left-handed stroke. He has a very predictable frame,” Severino said.
“He’s a kid that we fell in love with the minute we saw him. He did everything with ease. On the positive side, he’s a kid that we expected to eventually bat in the middle of the lineup. He is a player who can actually play on the field.
“He’s a very hard-working kid with incredible make-up and style. He’s a confident kid and we love that about him.
“Those are some of the key characteristics that led us to pursue him.”
“Ferris actually has a similar body type.” [as Hurtado]very predictable,” Severino continued.
“He has a very advanced approach and hitting ability at the plate, but he also has the ability to hit for power. And even though he’s a big kid, he really can’t play shortstop. You can. He was a kid, so at first we were like, “Are you going to play there?” [at shortstop]?Is he going to play third base?? But the more I watched him play, at least for me, the more I watched him play, the more routine and difficult plays he made, he made all the decisions. he has strong arms He’s a leader with incredible makeup and comes from a very competitive program that we’ve seen in various tournaments. And he has a lot of dignity about himself. ”
“We’re excited,” Severino said of the draft class as a whole.
“We have players that we think can make an impact on the organization,” he added. [of the] There are some major publications, but other than that, I think we have a good group of people. ”
