Yesterday, the 2019-2020 International signing period opened up. Every year on July 2nd, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the 29 other Major League teams can officially sign 16-year-old international prospects to their organization. This is the other the process of how teams acquire amateur talent, along with the annual MLB Draft.
This year, the Pittsburgh Pirates fell into the highest bracket in terms of international budget allotment. Like the MLB Draft, teams are only allowed to spend so much money on amateur free agents. For the 2019-2020 period, the Pittsburgh Pirates were given $6,481,200 as their international pool.