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Last year's international signing class was a blockbuster event for the Yankees as they signed 10 of the top 30 prospects in 2014. This year, due to penalties they accrued from that spending spree, they can't sign anyone to a bonus of more than $300,000. Here are the players they have signed so far:
RHP Luis Medina from the Dominican Republic was given a $280,000 signing bonus.
#Yankees sign RHP Luis Medina to a deal worth $280K. He also receives a $120K scholarship.pic.twitter.com/gYdl9X5qWa
— DPL (@DPLBaseball) July 8, 2015
RHP Deivi Garcia from the Dominican Republic was given a $100,000 signing bonus.
Felicidades para nuestro Prospecto Deivi Garcia RHP, quien firmo en el dia de hoy con los @Yankees por 100K. pic.twitter.com/nadHTZMa0r
— MYN Baseball RD (@mynbaseballrd) July 2, 2015
LHP Heiner Moreno:
Three players who participated in the MLB Showcase at Rod Carew Stadium in Panama City have been signed by MLB clubs: pic.twitter.com/hZki80e6NK
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) July 7, 2015
Other players include RHP Rony Garcia, RHP Alex Mejias, RHP Luis Ojeda, RHP Elvis Peguero, LHP Argelis Herrera, C Moises Lobo, 2B Diego Duran, 3B Sandy Acevedo, 3B Alfred Pujols, SS Jesus Graterol, SS Brayan Jimenez, and SS Kleiber Maneiro.
The Yankees also signed non-drafted free agent Samuel de la Cruz, a catcher out of Florence-Darlington Technical College in Florence, South Carolina. The six-foot, 200-pounder hails from New York and hit .318/.392/.379 in 66 at-bats as a right-handed hitter for the Tech Stingers.
They have released outfielder Brandon Thomas from the organization. The Yankees were able to draft Thomas in the eighth round of the 2013 MLB Draft after a bout with mono dropped his value. Unfortunately, he was never able to get much going in the way of offense as he hit .209/.318/.317 over three seasons and made it as far as High-A Tampa before his release this month.