The Rays have an agreement in place to sign 16-year-old Cuban pitching prospect Sandy Gaston, who will get a $2.6 million bonus, a source confirmed to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez on Tuesday.
Gaston is ranked baseball's No. 16 international prospect by MLB Pipeline. The right-hander has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and has been clocked as fast as 97 mph. The belief is Gaston will develop his secondary pitches, currently a slider and changeup, once he enters an MLB organization and receives daily instruction in an academy.
The Rays had $3,621,500 remaining for this international signing period, which was second only to the Orioles' $6,563,500. According to El Nuevo Herald's Jorge Ebro -- who first reported the Rays' deal with Gaston late Monday night -- the Rays and Orioles had been in competition to sign Gaston.
The Marlins previously had the most money available, $6,569,500, but they used most of that when they signed the Mesa brothers on Monday. Per Sanchez, $5.25 million of the Marlins' international bonus pool money went to 22-year-old Victor Victor Mesa, the No. 1 overall international prospect, and about $1 million went to his younger brother, 17-year-old Victor Mesa Jr.