The Tigers are adding one of the best prospects from Venezuela to their Minor League system.
On Sunday, the club agreed to a $1 million deal with shortstop Alvaro Gonzalez, ranked No. 23 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 30 International Prospects list, according to industry sources.
The club has not confirmed the deal.
• Complete breakdown of where Top 30 international prospects landed
Gonzalez, who is known for his good hands and strong arm, is considered one of the best all-around prospects from Venezuela in this year's class. He's athletic enough to stay at shortstop, but he also has the skill set and strength to move to third base if necessary. At the plate, the switch-hitting infielder makes hard contact from both sides of the plate and has shown good bat speed with some power.
Gonzalez's overall hitting mechanics are expected to improve once he receives daily instruction in the team's academy. He has already shown the potential to hit for average.
According to the new rules established by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, every team gets at least $4.75 million to spend on international prospects. Any team receiving a Competitive Balance Round A pick in the Draft gets $5.25 million in international bonus pool money. Additionally, teams receiving a Competitive Balance Round B pick get $5.75 million to spend.
A club can trade as much of its international pool money as it would like, but there is a limit -- 75 percent of a team's initial pool -- to how much one team can acquired.
Detroit's pool total for this year's signing period is $4.75 million.
Here's a list of players the Tigers have agreed to terms with for the 2017-18 international signing period so far:
Alvaro Gonzalez, SS, Venezuela, $1,000,000 -- No. 23 on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 list
Jose Rodriguez, OF, Dominican Republic, $360,000
Yoneiry Acevedo, SS, Dominican Republic, $300,000
Kevin Nivar, SS, Dominican Republic, $260,000