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Pirates Sign Dominican Shortstop Adrian Valerio

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to terms with Dominican shortstop Adrian Valerio on a $400,000 bonus. He is the second big International signing from today, with outfielder Edinson Lantigua being announced earlier.

Valerio is a 16-year-old switch-hitter, who like Lantigua, played in the Dominican Prospect League. According to Ben Badler at Baseball America(subscription required), Valerio has smooth actions in the field and a good arm, so he may be able to stick at shortstop. He has good bat speed and a nice easy swing from both sides. Valerio has a skinny frame, so he may never add power to his game. He is also a below average runner at this point, but has room to improve in that aspect.

As was mentioned in our International signing preview, the Pirates have been tied to Valerio, so this signing was expected.

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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