Major League Baseball’s international signing window for 2026 opened Jan. 15, and the Seattle Mariners made one of the loudest noises on that day, paying a $2.9 million signing bonus to a 16-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic, Gregory Pio, who has been “drawing attention as a potential premium prospect from a young age, according to Jesse Borek of MLB Pipeline.”
But that signing was quickly overshadowed by a new report on Tuesday, documenting a new international signing agreement for Seattle. According to Spanish-language baseball reporter Wilber Sánchez, who specializes in breaking stories about international prospects, particularly from South America and the Caribbean, the Mariners have agreed to a multimillion-dollar deal with a hitter who has been described as “the Juan Soto of Venezuela.”
Because Dylan Pérez is only 13, the Mariners — or any MLB team — cannot yet sign him to contract. But teams can come to preliminary agreements with prospects younger than age 16, and that is exactly what Seattle did with Pérez, according to the Sánchez report. The Mariners, he reports, have agreed to pay Pérez a $3.7 million bonus in 2030, the year he becomes eligible to enter MLB’s international free agent pool.
For comparison, if he were paid that sum this year, Pérez would receive the fourth-highest bonus of any international player signed last week.
Who is Dylan Pérez?
How could a 13-year-old player merit a promised signing bonus of nearly $4 million? Another Spanish-language baseball reporter, Héctor Gómez — sports editor of the Dominican Republic’s longest-running TV program, El Show del Mediodía (The Midday Show) — was quoted by Sánchez comparing the new Mariners’ commit to Soto.
“He’s the best Venezuelan hitter of his generation, the Juan Soto of Venezuela, but with more tools,” Gómez was quoted as saying of Pérez.
The tools, for a 13-year-old, are eye-opening, according to Sánchez.
“He already boasts an exit velocity exceeding 90 mph, a clear indication of natural power combined with exceptional speed for his age, evidenced by his 6.8-second time in the 60-yard dash,” Sánchez wrote in an Instagram post.
Pérez Called an ‘Advanced Hitter’
“His greatest strength lies in his hitting ability. He is an advanced hitter with excellent pitch recognition and very little vulnerability to breaking balls, allowing him to adjust and maintain consistency in every at-bat,” Sánchez continued in his report on the prospective Seattle signing.
Then, on Monday, Sánchez reported that Pérez “reached a preliminary agreement with Seattle for a $3.7 million bonus. The figure will represent the highest bonus that the organization will award in the international class of 2030.”
The figure is obviously higher than the $2.9 million paid to Pio this year, and the $2.2 million paid to Juan Rijo, a 17-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic who is described as “an exciting prospect with the complete package to dream big,” according to journalist Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. “I can envision Rijo reaching a level close to Double-A by the time he is 20 years old.”
The Mariners have scored some major successes in the international free agent market over the years. Perhaps most notably, in 1982, they signed Edgar Martinez out of Puerto Rico for a mere $4,000 bonus, the equivalent of just $13,200 today. Martinez went on to become the first full-time designated hitter inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In 2002, Seattle spent a considerably healthier sum, $710,000, on a hard-throwing 16-year-old right-hander from Venezuela, Felix Hernandez. In a career that seems destined to get him to the Hall of Fame, Hernandez won two American League ERA titles, the 2010 AL Cy Young Award and six selections to the All-Star Game.
Who Is ‘Venezuelan Juan Soto’? 13-Year-Old Linked to $3.7 Million MLB Deal