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Orioles prospect season in review: Maikol Hernandez and Samuel Basallo

There is no discussion of who was an elite MLB player in the 2021 season that does not include players who signed as amateurs out of Latin America. Four of the top 10 players in bWAR in 2021 were international amateurs. Three of the current top 10 MLB Pipeline prospects, and 22 of the top 100, arrived the same way.

It cannot be said enough that until Mike Elias came along, the Orioles were almost completely asleep at the wheel in this area. Today’s top 100 prospect-caliber international signings were inked 3-5 years ago, with technically forbidden but entirely common handshake agreements made as much as another two years before that.