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Pittsburgh Pirates Sign Outfielder Yondry Contreras

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have made their first signing of the July 2nd international signing period, inking a deal with 16-year-old  Dominican outfielder Yondry Contreras for a $400k bonus. He is 6’1″, 175 pounds, bats and throws righty.

Here is video of Contreras throwing and hitting. It shows up about a minute into the clip.

In our July 2nd preview, Contreras was the top name mentioned for the Pirates, so their got their biggest known target. Ben Badler from Baseball America described Contreras as an athletic player, with a strong arm and good speed. He also has a quick swing, but lacks plate patience. At his age, that is still something that can be taught, but it was the reason some scouts weren’t high on him. Pirates have had a recent history of finding good young international players that weren’t universally liked by scouts, so this could be another diamond in the rough.

You can find our 2014 international signing tracker here to keep up on all of the Pirates’ signings throughout the year.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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