Many of the most exciting young players in the game no longer solely hail from the United States, but from countries all over the world. These players are not drafted in the traditional June amateur draft, but rather tend to be scouted by teams internationally and then signed to amateur international free agent contracts. The signing period for this new cycle begins on Saturday, January 15th—a delay from last summer when it was supposed to take place due to COVID.
Because of the manner in which players can sign, many players go into the January 15th opening of the cycle with handshake agreements already in place.