The Yankees entered the 2015 international free agency (IFA) signing period with their spending capacity severely hampered. They blew through their international bonus pool limits the previous year and thus were subjected to stiff penalties. As a result, New York was barred from spending more than $300,000 on any one prospect.
It was quite a coup, therefore, that they were able to sign Luis Medina out of the Dominican Republic for $280,000 on July 8, 2015. Weeks prior to his signing, the 16-year-old righty touched triple digits for the first time after pitching in the mid-90s as a 15-year-old.