Wednesday marks the open of MLB's 2025 international signing period, one of two ways major-league teams acquire amateur talent each year. The annual July draft covers players born in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Players from everywhere else in the world fall into international free agency.
Roughly 30% of current MLB players were originally signed as international free agents. That group includes megastars like Ronald Acuña Jr., Shohei Ohtani, José Ramírez, and Juan Soto. Perennial contenders like the Dodgers and Yankees, teams that typically pick late in the draft, use international free agency to add high-end prospects to their farm system.
Future All-Stars will be signed during the international free agency window. Maybe even a future Cy Young winner or MVP. Heck, someone who signs Wednesday could one day find himself in Cooperstown. Here's everything you need to know going into the open of the 2025 international signing period.
Format
International free agency remains free agency because MLB and the MLB Players Association did not agree to an international draft during collective bargaining agreement talks in 2022. MLB has pushed for an international draft for years (decades, really), but the union has resisted because it would strip players of the freedom to pick their team, not to mention limit their earning potential. The current international free agency system will remain through at least 2026, when the CBA expires.
The international signing period used to run from July 2 to June 25, but the start of the 2020-21 signing period was pushed back to Jan. 15 because of the pandemic, and that change was later made permanent. The signing period is now neatly confined to a single calendar year, and runs from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15. To be eligible to sign, players must be at least 16 years old and turn 17 by Sept. 1 of the following year. This year's newly eligible players were born between Sept. 1, 2007, and Aug. 31, 2008.
Bonus pools
International bonus pools, the money teams can spend on players, are tied to revenue and market size. Generally speaking, small-market teams get the biggest bonus pools and large-market teams get the smallest. There are bonus pool penalties for signing major-league free agents who declined the qualifying offer, and teams can trade for an additional 60% of their original bonus pool. The bonus pools are a hard cap. You cannot spend more than you're allotted.
Here are the bonus pools for the 2025 international signing period (via the Associated Press):
- $7,555,500: Athletics, Brewers, Mariners, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Tigers, Twins
- $6,908,600: Diamondbacks, Guardians, Orioles, Pirates, Rockies, Royals
- $6,261,600: Angels, Blue Jays, Braves, Cubs, Mets, Nationals, Padres, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees
- $5,646,200: Astros, Cardinals
- $5,146,200: Dodgers, Giants
The Astros (Josh Hader) and Cardinals (Sonny Gray) both forfeited $500,000 of international bonus pool money for signing a qualified free agent during the 2023-24 offseason. The Giants were hit with matching $500,000 penalties for Matt Chapman and Blake Snell. The Dodgers forfeited $1 million in pool money for Ohtani because of their competitive balance tax status.
Bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count against the bonus pool. Players who get bonuses that small usually aren't great prospects, though every so often one breaks through and reaches the big leagues. Houston signed both Cristian Javier and Framber Valdez to $10,000 bonuses as amateurs, for example. The Tigers signed Eugenio Suárez for $10,000 way back in the day.
International players younger than 25 can sign minor-league contracts only. Teams cannot entice these players by offering to put them on the 40-man roster. Because he was posted at age 25, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was not subject to the international bonus pools last offseason and was free to sign his record $325 million contract.
The Sasaki situation
Star Japanese righty Roki Sasaki was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in December and, because he is only 23, he falls under the international amateur free agency umbrella. He can't sign a Yamamoto contract. Sasaki will be able to sign starting on Jan. 15, and his 45-day window closes on Jan. 23, based on when he was posted. That means he has eight days to pick a team and, thanks to the bonus pools, the financial playing field is basically level. Teams can't keep adding dollars to their offer until Sasaki says yes.
"Given that the gap in bonus pool amounts is so negligible, my advice to him is don't make decisions based on that," Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, said at the Winter Meetings last month. "The long-term arc of your career is where you're going to earn your money, so it's probably not advisable to make a short-term decision in that regard. Take all the factors into consideration."
Why is Sasaki coming over now rather than waiting two years until he turns 25, and can sign a contract of any size? Beats me. I'm not sure anyone other than Sasaki and those close to him know the answer to that. Our R.J. Anderson ranked Sasaki as the seventh-best free agent available this offseason. Here's the write-up:
Sasaki is the most talented pitcher not already in an MLB organization. He's been on the global radar since throwing a 19-strikeout perfect game as a 20-year-old in 2022. He combines elite velocity with a devastating swing-and-miss splitter/forkball. Sasaki has dealt with his share of injuries, limiting him to 33 combined starts across the last two seasons. His earning potential is completely suppressed because of his amateur free agent classification. Nevertheless, a fully actualized Sasaki has a chance to be an immediate impact starter in the majors.
He reportedly has already narrowed down his suitors to three favorites with his deadline looming: the Dodgers, the Padres and the Blue Jays.
It should be noted the team that signs Sasaki will have to pay the Marines a posting fee. It's minimal though, only 25% of his signing bonus. That might be an extra $2 million or so. The Dodgers had to pay the Orix Buffaloes a posting fee north of $50 million for Yamamoto. Needless to say, Chiba Lotte is not pleased Sasaki is coming over now. The posting fee will be a relative pittance.
It's possible a team will offer Sasaki their entire bonus pool, including the additional 60% they can trade for, in which case they would have to renege on any agreements already in place. Teams back out of agreements all the time for a variety of reasons, but a team backing out of its entire international signing class would be essentially unprecedented. Sasaki's signing could potentially create a messy situation for international free agents later this month.
Top prospects
Sasaki is the consensus No. 1 prospect this international signing period, though he's a special case as a player with several years of experience at Japan's highest level. Traditionally, international free agency focuses on players born in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries. Here are some of this year's notable non-Sasaki international prospects.
SS Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez, Dominican Republic: The 17-year-old switch-hitting shortstop is already getting Francisco Lindor comps. Gonzalez has the "overall package to be the jewel of the '25 class" thanks to his "plus bat speed with an advanced feel for the barrel" and high-end defensive tools, per MLB.com. The Giants have signed him for $3 million.
RHP Kelvin DeFrank, Dominican Republic: Other than Sasaki, it's a thin international class for pitching this year. DeFrank is the best in Latin American arms thanks to a low-90s fastball and a quality changeup that "gets terrific separation off his heater," according to MLB.com.
SS Elian Peña, Dominican Republic: Peña, 17, offers big time bat speed and precocious plate discipline from the left side of the plate. MLB.com says scouts believe "he has legitimate five-tool impact potential across the board." The Mets have signed him for $5 million.
OF Cris Rodriguez, Dominican Republic: The best power hitter in the 2025 international class, MLB.com cautions that the 16-year-old Rodriguez comes with "swing-and-miss concerns he'll have to iron out (as he climbs the ladder)."
SS/OF Andrew Salas, Venezuela: Salas, 16, is the younger brother of Padres catcher Ethan Salas and Twins infielder Jose Salas, two touted prospects. This Salas "often eschews power in favor of being a high-OBP, bat-to-ball hitter from both sides of the dish," according to MLB.com.
