SAN DIEGO -- The Padres have agreed to contract terms with Taiwanese right-hander Wen-Hua Sung, marking the franchise's first deal with an amateur player from Asia, general manager A.J. Preller announced on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Sung is the latest in a series of international signings for the Padres over the past two days, as San Diego has blown past its bonus pool in a serious investment into the foreign market.
On Saturday alone, the Padres committed about $14 million to international signings -- a figure on which they'll pay a 100 percent tax. It appears the Padres will remain active, and that number will continue to grow.
Sung is older than the players the Padres signed on Saturday, most of whom were 16 years old, and he is clearly further along in his development. Terms of his contract were not disclosed.
Sung is currently pitching for the Chinese Taipei U-23 national team and took home MVP Awards in 2013 and '14 for the E-Sun Cup High School tournament and Sadaharu Oh Cup High School tournament, respectively.
"He's probably at a little different point in his development than a lot of the guys we signed on July 2," Preller said. "He's probably a little bit more advanced and really an accomplished pitcher. ... He's a strong-bodied right-hander that throws strikes."
As for the Padres' investment into a new market, Preller said it's a sign of things to come, given the global nature of the game and the club's commitment internationally.
"It's important," Preller said." There's good baseball being played all throughout the world, there's good baseball in the Pac Rim and Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Obviously it's about signing good players. But [we're] just letting the baseball community know over there that we'll be active if it's the right guy. There's interest in getting guys here to the States, making them Padres."