Reds international signings have familiar feel that will irritate disgruntled fanbase

Editor's Note: Updated on January 15, 2025 at 4:23 p.m. ET

If there's one thing that the Cincinnati Reds' scouting department likes, it's shortstops. One look at the team's current farm system makes that abundantly clear. Even after Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Noelvi Marte — all shortstop prospects — graduated, the Reds still have what feels like 2,187 shortstops down in the minors.

That number is, of course, an exaggeration, but much of the top young talent in the Reds' pipeline are middle infielders. Edwin Arroyo, Tyson Lewis, Sammy Stafura, and Ricardo Cabrera represent four of the Reds' top-10 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Rounding out the top-30 include the likes of Carlos Jorge (who also played center field), Peyton Stovall, Sheng-En Lin, and Leo Balcazar. Every player listed has forcasted to either play shortstop or second base.

Reds 2025 international free agent signings include numerous shortstops

The international free agent signing period began on Wednesday, and to no one's surprise, the Reds inked a number of shortstop prospects. While so many Major League Baseball executives are waiting to see where Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki will land, the Reds were busy signing a number of foreign-born players to free agent deals at the outset of the signing period.

Among those who signed with the Reds are Liberts Aponte (shortstop), Enry Torres (catcher), Isaac Garcia (outfielder), Angel Salio (shortstop), Jealmy Frias (shortstop), and Omar Guadamuz (shortstop).

In addition, the Reds also signed pitchers Starlin Alberto, Cesar Maiz, Ramces Camargo, and Oscar Ramirez, infielders Juan Caricipe, Deinis Churio, and Sandor Feliciano, and outfielders Jose Martinez, Rey Reyes, and Wanderly De La Cruz. More signings will trickle in the days and weeks ahead, as not every international free agent signs on Day 1.

For those unfamiliar with the process, each team is allotted a certain amount of bonus pool money to spend on the large number of international free agents available. Most of these players are teenagers, so don't look for the Reds to promote any of their recent signings in the near future. That said, Reds' superstar Elly De La Cruz made his big league debut at age 21, so you never know how these things will work out. Cincinnati's bonus pool allotment is $7,555,500.

Some of the Reds top prospects (Lin, Cabrera, Alfredo Duno, and Adolfo Sanchez) signed with the Reds over the past two seasons. De La Cruz is arguably the Reds' biggest international success story, but Marte and Luis Mey — both of whom are on the 40-man roster — were also international free agent signees.

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