Switch-hitting shortstop headlines D-backs' deep international signing class
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After a season in which Trade Deadline deals helped reinvigorate the club’s farm system, the D-backs once again will get a large infusion of talent as the 2026 international signing period opens.
The club’s class is headlined by sweet-swinging shortstop Ruben Gallego, MLB Pipeline’s No. 42 international prospect. A switch-hitter, Gallego moved with his parents from his native Cuba to the Dominican Republic as a youngster to chase his dream of playing professional baseball. (He bears no relation to the United States senator from Arizona with the same name.)
Gallego has been known to hammer the ball at a high frequency, particularly from the left side of the dish. He’ll need to add weight and muscle as he faces advanced pitching in the pros but his bat-to-ball skills rate as above average, while he can also generate a good bit of thump from a well-timed leg kick.
A gifted defender, Gallego has the smooth actions to stay at the premium position for the foreseeable future. His arm slots can vary, hampering its overall strength, but he has the quick first step and lateral movement that often portends success.
Arizona received $8,034,900 in pool money this year, tied for the highest base allotment in the league, which has allowed them to bring aboard a deep group. Gallego has reportedly landed a $1.8 million bonus as the club’s headlining talent.
Landing right outside the Top 50 list is Dominican outfielder Yohendi Hernandez ($547,500 bonus), who has shown a knack for finding the barrel while profiling primarily on the corners to help maximize his offensive contributions. As he continues to mature and add size to his frame, the organization believes even more extra-base impact will come.
The club also came to an agreement with right-handed-hitting outfielder Loidel Amaya, who trains in Santo Domingo at the same academy as Gallego. Known as an all-around tenacious competitor, Amaya has shown early aptitude for impacting the game both in the batter’s box and defensively. He has a chance to stick in center field but also could provide a plus glove on the corners.
Jhosep Villarroel is the club’s top catcher in the class, a native of Venezuela who displays a gifted propensity for hitting from a compact frame. It’s currently a bat-first profile but one that has frequently produced high-level exit velocities, making the team bullish on his development.
For all of the excitement around the club’s high-profile signees, the D-backs have made a habit of finding unheralded gems on the international market over the past few years. Half of the back third of their Top 30 Prospects list came from the past three international free-agency classes, spanning the globe – Dominican Republic (Yordin Chalas, No. 21; Yassel Soler, No. 23; Daury Vasquez, No. 25), Venezuela (Carlos Virahonda, No. 24) and Taiwan (Chung-Hsiang Huang, No. 30).
The first stop for the 2026 signees will be the Dominican Summer League, where the D-backs again found another pair of under-the-radar potential Top 30 players this past year: outfielder Alfredo Benzan (15 steals, .846 OPS) and left-hander Naimer Rosario (64 strikeouts, second in the DSL).
An international player is eligible to sign with a Major League team between Jan. 15 and Dec. 15. He must turn 16 before he signs and be 17 before Sept. 1 the following year.
That means players born between Sept. 1, 2008, and Aug. 31, 2009, will be eligible to sign in the current signing period. Players must be registered with Major League Baseball in advance to be eligible to sign.