15 Of The Top Prospects To Know In The Dominican Summer League

The Dominican Summer League opens today. 

With so many other things happening this time of year on the baseball calendar, it can get lost in the shuffle, but the start of the DSL is an important one for first-year Latin American players. It’s a league that’s growing in importance now that teams rarely send even their top international signings directly to the United States their first year, which means the DSL is the first stop for nearly every Latin American player.

We have a preview of the top group of prospects to watch for all 30 teams in the DSL—300 scouting reports total—in our International Reviews. Today we zoom out to highlight 15 of the best prospects who signed for at least $1 million and will be playing in the DSL. We’re looking for players to follow in the footsteps of Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo, Mariners outfielder Lazaro Montes or Phillies shortstop Starlyn Caba as 7-figure signings who debuted in the DSL and are now Top 100 Prospects. 

Below, Baseball America subscribers can find 15 of the biggest international prospects of the year. 

20 Pitchers To Watch In The DSL

Teams just don’t spend a lot of money on pitching in Latin America.

There wasn’t a single pitcher this year whose bonus cracked the $1 million mark. Of the top 50 bonuses overall, just one went to a pitcher. If teams think it’s risky to bet on 18-year-old high school pitchers in the first round of the draft, there’s even deeper projection and uncertainty involved in trying to predict the future of pitchers who are signing at 16 or 17, especially when those signing decisions are often made a couple years before a player officially signs.

The Dominican Summer League is the first step in the minor leagues for nearly every Latin American pitcher. It’s also a league that’s fertile ground for finding sleepers and potential breakout pitchers at all price points. With better nutrition once they enter team academies, professional coaching and strength gains, pitchers that age can change quickly. Several pitchers on this list are showing better stuff now than they did when teams were scouting them and many of them have taken another jump forward this spring in DSL preseason action. The pitchers on this list include players who signed for $500,000 or more, but many of them signed for less than $100,000 and as low as $10,000.

These are 20 of the top pitching prospects to watch this year in the DSL, with notes included on other notable arms in the league to follow. The focus here is on players who project to be starting pitchers or who show traits to be starters—those are the players who have the most value—but there are also some flamethrowers who are more raw and might eventually land as bullpen arms too.

International Reviews For All 30 MLB Teams

We’re not just stopping at the biggest names. Ben Badler has updated intel on 2024 international signing classes for every MLB organization. Check in on the top players in each class, plus a slew of additional notable signings who either arrive in pro ball with pedigree, or are already impressing their respective organizations. Ben also identifies at least one sleeper in every signing class who has a chance to pop in the coming years. Our annual international reviews installment features 300+ new scouting reports exclusively for Baseball America subscribers. Check it out below.

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