The White Sox appear to be taking advantage of an uncertain situation as the Dodgers await a decision from Roki Sasaki.
According to Ben Badler of Baseball America, the White Sox are set to add Venezuelan outfielder Orlando Patiño to their organization when the 2025 international signing period begins on Wednesday, January 15. He will reportedly sign with the Sox for $570,000.
Baseball America describes Patiño as “strong for his age” as the 6’2 200 lb outfielder appears to already be physically maxed out. He is seen as a likely corner outfielder, with his power potential and plus arm giving him a shot to stick in right field.
This is the second international prospect that the Dodgers have lost ahead of the new signing period, as they are also reportedly losing shortstop Darrell Morel to the Pirates. Still in the mix for Roki Sasaki, the Dodgers will likely need most, if not all, of their international signing bonus pool to sign him. This will leave the prospects who have already agreed to contracts with the Dodgers free to sign elsewhere. As we are seeing, some of them don’t want to wait to see what happens and are taking matters into their own hands before other teams use up their bonus pools.
The White Sox are in a good position to capitalize on this. While they have already agreed to terms with an international signing class that is headlined by Cuban 3B Alejandro Cruz, who is ranked 33rd among international prospects according to MLB Pipeline, they still had around $2 million to spend this period. Even with the addition of Patiño, the Sox still have the room to either add more prospects or trade some of their remaining bonus pool to a team in the mix for Sasaki.
This will go down as the first splash from David Keller since joining the White Sox to head their international scouting efforts. While normally teams have their international signing classes solidified years in advance, Keller is taking advantage of a unique situation to add talent to this organization.
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