A year ago, on the first day of baseball's international signing period, the Phillies expended a combined $1.55 million to sign a pair of 16-year-old Venezuelan shortstops.
On Thursday, when the next period opens, the team with baseball's worst record is expected to spend more than twice that amount on one 16-year-old slugger who boasts what is said to be loads of raw power potential.
The Phillies have long been the favorites to land Jhailyn Ortiz, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound Dominican whom Baseball America ranked as the 18th-best prospect in this class.
Several reports peg the signing bonus the Phillies are set to give Ortiz in the range of $4 million.