MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins officially signed 19-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Kai-Wei Teng as an international free agent, the club announced. Teng receives a $500,000 signing bonus after reaching an agreement in September. He'll also receive $80,000 for future tuition expenses.
Teng, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, worked out in front of more than 10 teams in May and reached 92 mph with his fastball. He also throws a curveball and a changeup.
Teng is the fifth Taiwanese player ever signed by the Twins, joining Wang-Wei Lin (2006), Hung-Yi Chen (2010), Kuo-Hua Lo (2011) and Chih-Wei Hu (2012). Hu is the lone player from that group to make the Majors, as he made his debut with the Rays last season after being traded for reliever Kevin Jepsen in 2015.
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Teng, who turned 19 on Dec. 1, pitched for Taoyuan City National Sports University's baseball team in high school. He also spent time training in Texas in '16 and took part in the Nike Taiwan Youth Elite Camp that year.
The Twins have been loading up on prospects this offseason, signing 18-year-old infielder Yunior Severino for $2.5 million after he was declared a free agent because of the Braves' infractions committed on the international market. Minnesota also traded $1 million in international bonus pool money to the Mariners for catching prospect David Banuelos and $1 million to the Angels for outfield prospect Jacob Pearson.
The Twins also had interest in re-signing 16-year-old shortstop prospect Jelfry Marte after vision issues caused the club to void his $3 million signing bonus. Marte signed with the Rays for $820,000 last week.