The Cincinnati Reds have kicked off the 2025 international signing period for amateur players by signing 16 players. There are going to be more signings to add to this in the next few days and weeks, and the signing period goes until December 15th for players who are at least 16-years-old and eligible to sign. The big get today for the Reds is the signing of Liberts Aponte. A shortstop out of Venezuela, Ben Badler of Baseball America is reporting that he got a signing bonus of $1,900,000. That’s the top bonus for the Reds among this signing group.
Baseball America and MLB Pipeline both had Liberts Aponte at #18 on their top whatever number rankings (Baseball America had 100 players, MLB Pipeline had 50). It’s worth noting, though, that most of the players who are signing today haven’t been scouted by organizations that they didn’t sign with today for probably a year or two because that’s how long ago many of them agreed to deals and stopped working out for other organizations while waiting around for their official signing day. A lot of things can, and sometimes do change between the time they are last seen at workouts/showcases and when they sign.
With that said, the scouting reports on Liberts Aponte look good. The recently turned 17-year-old has a chance to be an elite defensive shortstop. He’s got strong range, outstanding hands and footwork, and athleticism that allows him to make highlight reel caliber plays look easy. He has plenty of arm to stick at shortstop.
On the offensive side of things he’s got plus speed. At the plate he is said to have a good contact rate and can use the entire field. His power isn’t likely to stand out now or in the future. Exactly how much power he’ll hit for could come down to how much stronger he can get as he fills out his frame as his body matures. He’s currently listed at 6′ 0″ and 170 lbs, so there’s some room there for him to get bigger and stronger. His overall skillset profiles well as a potential starting caliber shortstop in the big leagues if everything can develop over the next handful of years.
While Cincinnati officially signed 18 players today, there are more signings that will be coming soon. Over at RedsMinorLeagues.com we’ll have scouting reports and information on all of the signings later this week. For now we’ve got all of the signings listed and a few scouting reports already available.
The old days of spending whatever you want to on international amateurs are long gone. It’s why Shohei Ohtani signed for $2,315,000 as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels and why Roki Sasaki is going to sign for somewhere under $10,000,000 in the next week or so. Major League Baseball tried to save themselves…. from themselves. Now teams are limited to their bonus pool and you can not go over your pool amount. It is a hard cap. Sort of. The bonus pool amounts can be traded and teams can acquire up to 60% of additional pool space via trades of their original pool allotment.
In 2025 the Cincinnati Reds pool allotment, before any trades, is $7,555,500. That is tied for the largest bonus pool in baseball with seven other teams. The smallest bonus pools belong to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, who have $5,146,200 in their pools before any trades.
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