Miguel Angel Sano

While Sano is not a draft prospect, he is the kind of unique talent that should be talked about. Sano is a 6'3 190lb SS from the Dominican Republic who has been compared to Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, and Gary Sheffield. What is so special about that? Well, Sano is only 16 years old, pending an age investigation by MLB that is. His agent has had bone graphs done to show that he is between 16 and 17 years old, and Sano is reportedly looking for money to rival Micheal Ynoa's $4.2 mil. record from last year.

As of July 2nd, Sano was free to sign with any MLB he'd like, this is the international signings period which means that these players are free agents, some with no representation, some with agents already, and most all of them ready to embark on the dream of the big payday and getting out of their current living situation. For those of you not familiar with the signing period and these third-world countries, these players are found by local guys who watch over them from a young age, these guys form relationships with the families, the players, and more importantly MLB teams. Some MLB teams have academies in these countries where these intermediaries will bring entire van or busloads of players to be evaluated in hopes that they will be signed and net them a percentage of the bonus. In these environments it is all about who you know, having the right relationship with one of these guides can give a team an inside track to signing a major talent. Most of these international guys will sign for less than $1m but every once in a while there is a talent where the hype gets so great you could be looking at $3-4m, that is where Sano comes in.

In the limited video available on him, you can see he looks like a man amongst boys, with good footwork and a strong arm at SS. His size looks like his future will be at another position as at some point he will lose some of the agility that makes playing SS possible, but his bat has the potential to play at any position. With an upright stance, and good mechanics he has a very smooth and strong swing that looks to produce a ton of power. Reports are that he already has a great eye for the strike zone, but it is hard to discern that from limited video. There are arguments made for both sides if he is worth the money, as he is so far from filling out there are going to be concerns, however, if some scouts are right, this is the next Dominican superstar, and can you really put a price on that?

The Pirates and Orioles appear to be the last teams standing in on Sano, with a signing decision expected soon people are eagerly awaiting Tweets from Kiley McDaniel of Baseball Prospectus and other experts with bated breath. Stay tuned, this summer drama should be fun to follow in the coming years.