The Pittsburgh Pirates have been tied to MLB Pipeline’s 12th ranked prospect in the 2021-22 international signing class for quite some time, but Pipeline recently updated their top 50 prospect list with news that the Pirates are the front runners for the #11 prospect as well. Dominican shortstop Yordany De Los Santos is expected to receive a bonus just north of $1,000,000 according to Ben Badler at Baseball America. That left the Pirates plenty of room to pursued 16-year-old Dominican outfielder Tony Blanco Jr to sign, after initial reports had the Tampa Bay Rays as the favorites.
Baseball America ranked the top 50 international signings by expected bonus, and they didn’t have Blanco in their top 50, but that may have changed with him apparently switching teams.