Major League Baseball’s international signing period opens today for the 2026 class, which means prospects can officially sign their contracts.
For Baseball America subscribers, we have full breakdowns of the signing classes for all 30 teams, including scouting reports on the top players for each organization, other big names to know and lower-profile players to watch who could be sleepers.
The Royals signed one of the most exciting international classes in 2025. The best player from that group right now is Venezuelan righthander Kendry Chourio, who started in the Dominican Summer League, finished the year in Low-A and is now the No. 2 prospect in the organization. This year’s Royals class has a chance to be even better, as it’s headlined by one of the elite players in the class and a group of quality position players behind him.
Venezuelan outfielder Angeibel Gomez, signing for $2.9 million, is for some scouts the top prospect from Venezuela in the 2026 international class. He has a strong, lean 6-foot-2, 185-pound build that’s well-proportioned with wide shoulders and significant strength projection remaining. Gomez has exciting athleticism and seems to hit everywhere he goes, including in 2024 in MLB’s Amateur Scouting League, where he ranked third in OPS. He makes frequent contact, has a good sense of the strike zone and big raw power for his age that he has been able to tap into in games, driving balls out of the park from the middle of the field over to his pull side. Given how much room he still has to add weight, he could end up a 25-plus home run threat. Gomez is also one of the better defensive center fielders in the class. He’s a plus-plus runner with a plus arm and great instincts, reading the ball well off the bat and taking clean routes to show good range in all directions.
The Royals are signing shortstop Jaider Suarez for $1.7 million. After being the youngest player on the Cuban team at the U-15 World Cup in 2022 when he was 13, Suarez in 2023 dominated in Cuba’s 15U national league. He hit .355/.495/.605 with 22 walks (including a league-high nine intentional walks) and seven strikeouts in 101 plate appearances for Ciego De Avila, leading the league with three home runs and tied for the league lead with 17 stolen bases. Suarez has broad shoulders on a strong frame (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) and good bat-to-ball skills from the right side of the plate. His raw power has spiked considerably over the past year as he’s gotten stronger and adjusted his swing to get better separation and incorporate his lower half more, giving him the look of a player who could end up hitting 20-plus homers. A plus runner, Suarez doesn’t have the typical shortstop build and some scouts think he could end up at third base, but scouts highest on him think he could stay at shortstop and that he fields his position well with good instincts and a plus arm.
Adrian Lunar from Venezuela is a lefthanded-hitting catcher with excellent bat control. It’s a contact-oriented approach with minimal swing-and-miss thanks to his barrel accuracy, spraying line drives around the field with gap power from his 5-foot-10, 180-pound frame. Lunar’s hitting ability has long been his calling card, but the strides he has made defensively have made for a more balanced profile. His arm strength has jumped significantly to become above-average and it plays up in games with his swift exchange.
A lean 6-foot, 150 pounds, Venezuelan shortstop Maicoll Rondon ($700,000) is a savvy, high-energy ballplayer with a high-contact bat from the right side of the plate. He has great hand-eye coordination with a well-sequenced swing and a knack for being on time even against premium velocity, traits that led to strong performance at the plate as an amateur and should translate into early offensive production at the lower levels. He’s a pesky, tablesetter type offensively with gap power that should tick up once he fills out. Rondon is athletic, an above-average runner and a solid defender at shortstop with the arm strength for the position, potentially sticking there or at second base as he moves up.
Venezuelan shortstop Leandro Briceño, signing for $650,000, is 6-foot, 170 pounds and has a good chance to stay at shortstop, where he’s a smooth defender with good instincts. A righthanded hitter, Briceño is a smart, headsy player with a solid sense of the strike zone that helps him get on base and he drives the ball well to both alleys with occasional over-the-fence pop.
One of the better Panamanian prospects this year is shortstop Renso Tenas, who is signing for $350,000. A recent high school graduate, Tenas is 5-foot-11, 160 pounds with a sound righthanded swing and a knack for putting the ball in play. He doesn’t have the strength or bat speed yet to drive the ball with a ton of impact, but he has performed well in games in Panama. He’s an instinctive player who could end up moving all around the infield.
One of the top pitchers in Colombia for 2026 is lefthander Luis Garces. He turns 16 on May 25, so he’s on the younger side of the class, with a 6-foot-3, 175-pound frame that screams projection. He’s up to 90 mph now and has the room on his frame that points to him sitting in the low 90s or better once he piles on more weight. There isn’t much effort to his operation and he flashes feel for a changeup and curveball, with a split camp on which one ends up the better pitch long term, but it gives him a starter look.
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