Royals strike big on International Signing Day

On International Signing Day last year, among the players the Royals inked to a professional contract was 17-year-old right-hander Kendry Chourio from Venezuela. All he did in his first season of pro ball was dominate. He opened the year in the Domnican Summer League and finished in A-Ball at Columbia, a rare jump for such a young pitcher. He also spun a few innings in the Arizona Complex League. Between all of the stops, Chourio threw 51.1 innings with 63 strikeouts and just five walks while exhibiting some electric stuff. He’s now probably the second-best prospect in the Royals system, behind only Carter Jensen.

That’s how important International Signing Day can be. Especially to organizations working to rebuild a thin minor league system.

The 2026 International Signing Day was on Thursday. The Royals had a pool of just over $8 million to work with and with the bar for success elevated due to the stratospheric rise of Chourio, the gang at Baseball America was impressed with the work from the Royals, who signed a total of 19 amateurs.

The headliner of the class is Venezuelan outfielder Angeibel Gomez, who signed for $2.9 million. FanGraphs has him ranked as the third-best player in this year’s International Signing pool. Here’s what Baseball America has to say about the right-handed hitter:

(Gomez) is for some scouts the top prospect from Venezuela in the 2026 international class…He makes frequent contact, has a good sense of the strike zone and big raw power for his age that he has been able to tap into in games, driving balls out of the park from the middle of the field over to his pull side…Gomez is also one of the better defensive center fielders in the class. He’s a plus-plus runner with a plus arm and great instincts, reading the ball well off the bat and taking clean routes to show good range in all directions.

FanGraphs ranked the top International Amateur Prospects and assigned Future Value grades, giving just six players a FV of 45 or greater, while explaining that a 45 FV represents first round in the draft talent. They graded Gomez as a 45 FV.

After signing shortstops Yandel Ricardo from Cuba in 2024 and Warren Calcaño last year from the Dominican, this year they returned to Cuba for a headlining shortstop in signing Jaider Suarez for $1.7 million. At 13 years old in 2023, Suarez was the youngest player on Cuba’s U-15 World Cup team. As you would expect from a young shortstop, he can do a little bit of everything on the field, including the ability to make some loud contact.

From BA:

His raw power has spiked considerably over the past year as he’s gotten stronger and adjusted his swing to get better separation and incorporate his lower half more, giving him the look of a player who could end up hitting 20-plus homers. A plus runner, Suarez doesn’t have the typical shortstop build and some scouts think he could end up at third base…

MLB Pipeline rated Suarez as the 22nd best international amateur available.

The Royals also signed Venezuelan catcher Adrian Lunar. BA notes he has “excellent bat control” and with an approach that lends itself to high levels of contact. He’s been training with former major leaguer Miguel Montero.

MLB Pipeline rates Lunar as the 43-best international amateur.

a left-handed hitter like Montero, Lunar has a flat, level swing that he utilizes to almost never swing and miss. He has top-of-the-charts bat-to-ball skills and has the look of a high average bat in the future…While Lunar’s receiving is still developing, he’s already posted some elite pop times in the range of 1.8-to-1.9 seconds on throws down to second. Having utilized those quick hands to his benefit from his time on the dirt, Lunar is also extremely aggressive and athletic behind the plate, consistently trying to back pick runners and manage basestealers.

Say…have the Royals ever had success with Venezuelan catchers?

If you’re still abuzz over the news that, in an effort to make the ballpark play a little more “fair” for hitters, the Royals will be moving in their outfield walls in, Ben Clemens at FanGraphs has an excellent analysis of what it could mean. (Yes, more home runs and fewer doubles and triples, but he goes beyond that.) He also looks to see who would’ve benefited (and suffered) the most from this move, had it happened in 2015. This won’t surprise you but Salvador Perez would’ve done well.