'Years in the working,' O's make biggest splash yet on int'l market

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill's Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- Remember about a decade ago when the Orioles weren’t involved in the international market? When they didn’t have a staff of front-office executives and scouts working year round to find the best available young players from Latin American countries?

Look how far they’ve come.

The 2025-26 international signing period opened Thursday, when the Orioles immediately made a major splash. Baltimore signed 10 players -- eight from the Dominican Republic and two from Venezuela -- with five of those youngsters ranking among the top 41 in MLB Pipeline’s rankings for this international class.

In the process, the Orioles used $6.85 million of their $8,034,900 in pool money, the latter figure tied for the most in the Majors. Dominican shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo (the No. 14 prospect in the class) received $2.3 million of that allotment, setting Baltimore’s franchise record in the process.

It’s impossible to know how the careers of these 16- and 17-year-old players will pan out. At this point, each possesses strong enough tools to project as a future big leaguer.

Sometimes, international signees never reach their potential. But other times, they become MLB superstars and new faces of the sport.

“A lot of years in the working. It feels like these kids are super young when we sign them at 16 and 17 years old now, but we’ve been working on them for years,” said Koby Perez, the Orioles’ vice president of international scouting and operations. “Being that we’re fully staffed, have had time to organize and really get good evaluations on these players and their families, this is kind of the year we were able to go a little bit bigger.

“As I’ve always said, it’s year by year. But this year, we were able to get in front and get some of these better players, at least on the front side.”

When Perez was hired by Baltimore in January 2019 -- less than two months after Mike Elias took over the club’s baseball operations department -- there were various ways for Orioles fans to dream about the future of the organization. Elias laid a blueprint for long-term sustained success, one that included building an international program from the ground up.

For a handful of years, the international players signed by the Orioles were all Minor Leaguers. It was going to take time for those efforts to pay dividends in the Majors.

Now, there’s a success story. At one time, Samuel Basallo was a Dominican youngster who signed for a then-franchise-record $1.3 million. Now, he’s the No. 7 prospect in baseball -- one who made his MLB debut last Aug. 17, then signed an eight-year, $67 million extension with Baltimore only five days later.

Any young Latin American player who signs with the Orioles can aim to follow Basallo’s path.

“I think the success that, of course, Basallo, having the big-name prospect success for the past few years, I think definitely helped,” Perez said. “Not necessarily his Major League debut, but more of the success that we’re able to sign players and get them up the line and be nationally ranked through publications. I think some agents and families and players started understanding that Baltimore could be a path for them. We’ve kind of proven that we can have a good track record of players.”

Basallo was the first big international signee of the Elias era to reach the big leagues with the Orioles. Who will be next?

Posed with that question, Perez named infielder Aron Estrada (Baltimore’s No. 22 prospect) and left-hander Luis De León (No. 18) as realistic possibilities. Perez wouldn’t be surprised if either reaches the Majors soon, potentially even in 2026.

Then, there could be more. The Orioles’ pipeline of international talent is growing deeper, and some of these players could eventually become core pieces of Baltimore’s roster, like Basallo.

“I think everybody understands that this is a good place to sign, and we’re on track to do this really well,” Perez said. “I think people are excited to sign with the Orioles.”