In a huge move, the A’s are expected to announce that they’ve signed top Dominican prospect Michael Inoa.
Inoa, a 16-year-old pitcher, is considered one of the better prospects to come out of the DR in recent years. He’s a first-round caliber of talent, and commanded a first-round price — about $4.25 million.
That’s the largest sum of money ever handed out to an international signing who didn’t hail from Cuba.
This is a significant move on the part of the A’s, who hadn’t developed an international signing into a top prospect since Miguel Tejada (DR) in 1993 and Ramon Hernandez (Venezuela) in 1994. Santiago Casilla could be considered an exception to that, but the reliever had to change names and spend considerable time in the minors before really breaking through, and he’s not exactly a household name. Inoa could be.
Inoa, according to an international scout Baseball America talked to, is “a once-in-a-decade type pitcher.”
Source: http://www.bigleaguefutures.com/big_league_futures/2008/07/as-to-sign-top.html
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