New York Yankees 2025 International Signings Review

Top Of The Class

The biggest bonus the Yankees awarded this year went to Dominican shortstop Mani Cedeño, who signed for $2.5 million, tied for the fifth-highest bonus for any Latin American player signed in 2025. Cedeño turns 17 on Aug. 14, so he’s one of the youngest players in the 2025 class and will play nearly the full DSL season as a 16-year-old.

Cedeño has a medium build (5-foot-10, 180 pounds) and is one of the more polished hitters signed this year. It’s a compact, direct righthanded swing with an efficient path to the ball and an accurate barrel. It’s a quick stroke with good bat speed for his age, leading to a high contact rate with hard line drives from an all-fields approach. Cedeño’s hitting ability stands out more than his raw power, but it’s not a light bat, showing the ability to drive the ball deep into both gaps with occasional home run power to his pull side that should tick up over the next few years.

Whether Cedeño stays at shortstop long term is uncertain. A lot of scouts who saw Cedeño early thought he would fit better at second or third base. Since then, he’s gotten faster to become a plus runner, improved his agility and has an above-average arm. So, while he could still end up at second or third, his defensive progress gives him a greater chance to continue at shortstop. 

Names To Know

Ruben Castillo, OF, Dominican Republic: The Yankees signed Castillo, 17, for $875,000. He’s 5-foot-11, 170 pounds with quick hands from the left side of the plate. There are times when his swing can get big, but he has a knack for letting pitches travel deep into the hitting zone and stays on the ball well to drive it the opposite way. There’s occasional home run power to his pull side when he gets the barrel out front, but it’s more doubles and triples than big loft power. Castillo is an above-average runner who glides around well in center field and has a strong arm. 

Isaias Castillo, OF, Dominican Republic: Castillo (no relation to Ruben) is a 16-year-old outfielder the Yankees signed for $750,000. He’s 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, featuring a thicker build packed with strength and explosiveness. Castillo brings a combination of righthanded power and speed, using his strength and bat speed to hammer fastballs for quality contact and extra-base damage when he’s on time. Castillo isn’t a typical longer, lean athlete, but he is athletic with a below-average arm and plus speed, which should give him a chance to develop in center field. He’s built more like a corner outfielder, which could end up where he lands at higher levels. 

Carlos Bello, SS, Dominican Republic: Bello was a high-profile player early in the scouting process and a later addition for the Yankees, who got him for $400,000. Bello, 17, drew a split camp from scouts on his pure hitting ability, but scouts highest on him thought he was a good hitter with strong hands who drove the ball well from the right side of the plate. A high-intensity player who is 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Bello is an average runner with a solid-average arm who could get a chance to develop at shortstop but could fit at second or third base long term. 

Carlos De La Rosa, LHP, Dominican Republic: The Yankees paid $400,000 to sign De La Rosa, an athletic 17-year-old lefthander who has touched 93 mph. De La Rosa is 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, so he’s not that tall, but it’s good velocity for a young lefty paired with a high-spin curveball. That curveball is a key pitch for De La Rosa, one he manipulates well and has feel to land in the zone, with his curve ahead of his changeup. 

Eddinson Charles, OF, Dominican Republic: Charles is a long, lean 6-foot-4, 185 pound outfielder the Yankees signed for $300,000. He’s a 17-year-old righthanded hitter with fast bat speed and the leverage in his swing to hit long line drives and home runs with the strength projection remaining to grow into plus to plus-plus raw power. Charles has longer limbs and is still learning to sync everything up in his swing to be on time more consistently, but there’s upside for a big power/speed threat if everything clicks. He’s a plus runner underway with a below-average arm, showing the athleticism and wheels to get a chance in center field, though depending on his physical development he could land in a corner. 

Eliezer Adames, INF/OF, Dominican Republic: Adames plays everywhere. He’s an athletic player with above-average speed and an above-average arm, so he has experience at shortstop and center field, but he has spent time at second base, third and the outfield corners, as well. He’s 5-foot-10, 170 pounds and is a smart player for a 17-year-old, so some scouts have thought about putting him behind the plate, too (though, he hasn’t done that yet). That versatility makes Adames intriguing as a righthanded hitter with a swing that stays inside the ball in a hit-over-power profile. He signed for $250,000. 

Sleeper Watch

Hector Moreno, 17, is a 6-foot-6, 200-pound righthander from the Dominican Republic who signed with the Yankees for $100,000. He has broad shoulders, long limbs and already touches 95 mph with the potential for upper-tank velocity once he’s physically mature. His curveball has tight rotation and good depth as his most advanced secondary pitch ahead of his changeup. 

Randy Angomas, who turned 17 a week before the start of the Dominican Summer League season, is another Dominican righthander the Yankees signed for $100,000. He’s 6-foot-1, 198 pounds with high spin on both his fastball, which is up to 93 mph, and especially on his slider. The slider has extremely tight rotation and sharp bite, projecting to be a big bat-missing pitch for him at higher levels. 

Dominican righthander Manuel Cruz, who signed with the Yankees for $10,000, is a 19-year-old with a lively fastball touching 95 mph. He’s 6-foot-2, 180 pounds with a hard, sharp slider in the mid-to-upper 80s that has tight rotation. He’s still a teenager but on the older end of the signing class and has been throwing strikes at a high clip, which should translate to early success this year. 

Amateur players in their 20s don’t often get signed out of Latin America. The Yankees made an exception for Venezuelan righthander Lenin Caceres, who turns 23 in July. Caceres is 6-foot-3, 210 pounds with a fastball that is up to 98 mph. He generates that velocity from a good delivery and complements it with a hard splitter with good tumble. Caceres throws a breaking ball, as well, but it’s his fastball/splitter combination that shows the most promise. 

Among position players, one under-the-radar name to watch is Adrian Feliz, a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic who is one of the younger players in the 2025 class. He’s 6-foot-2, 165 pounds with a fluid, rhythmic righthanded swing. He keeps his hands inside the ball well and has flashed a good mix of game performance and occasional home run power to his pull side with the strength projection for more to come. His speed and arm strength are both above-average tools. 

Juan Torres is a $50,000 shortstop the Yankees signed out of the Dominican Republic. The bat is the calling card for Torres, a 17-year-old with supreme bat control from the right side of the plate. At 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, Torres isn’t that big and isn’t much of a power threat—likely fitting better at second base than shortstop—but he has excellent plate coverage with little swing-and-miss to his game to hit line drives all over the field.