Royals expected to sign one of the top shortstops in international signing market

It’s International Signing Day and the Royals have brought another class for 2025

The start of the international signing period for 2025 has begun. Many players have agreed to sign with teams, but today is officially the day they can make those contracts official. 2025 is a bit different as pitcher Roki Sasaki is available to sign. Having him part of this international class may cause some chaos and potential changes.

As of now, the Royals are expected to sign six international prospects so far and this group is highlighted by Warren Calcaño and Ramcel Medina who are ranked in the top 50 prospects by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. The full class looks like this:

• Warren Calcaño, SS, Dominican Republic
• Ramcell Medina, SS, Dominican Republic
• Moises Marchan, C, Venezuela
• Kendry Chourio, RHP, Venezuela
• Luis Ramon King, OF, Dominican Republic
• Luis German, OF, Dominican Republic

Warren Calcaño is the main prize for the Royals in this year's international class. According to Baseball America, Calcaño is getting $2.5 million and has been a quick riser up board because when he was first scouted, he weighed about 140 pound and was still fairly skinny. He’s not grown taller, now standing at 6’2 and he weighs 165 with tons of room to grow. He ranks very high on BA’s international prospect board, but is a bit lower on MLB Pipeline. This could be because MLB Pipeline has not updated their ranks since the growth of Calcaño.

Reports from BA mention that Calcano can be a true shortstop due to his instincts and athleticism. At the plate, there isn’t much power there yet, but he has a solid feel for the barrel and can use the whole field.

According to Ben Badler of Baseball America, Medina is an “up-arrow” player. He is signing with the Royals for $950,000. Badler believes that Medina will end up a power-hitting third baseman. Medina has an extremely good feel for the barrel and does flash some pull-side pop, giving you some intrigue for his future. Medina is ranked in the top 50 for MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.

The Royals secured some other intriguing talent, including RHP Kendry Chourio out of Venezuela, who apparently has solid pitchability and has touched 96 MPH already. They also signed catcher Moises Marchan (causing of Phillies catcher Rafael Marchan), considered one of Venezuela's top catchers. Marchan ranked in the top 50 for MLB Pipeline and the top 60 for Baseball America. Finally, they added two outfielders, in Luis Ramon King and Luis German. Both have some intriguing pop for their young ages.

This seems to be a relatively decent class for the Royals yet again in an international signing period. It is worth noting that figuring out how good this class is will take lots of time. It’s not uncommon for teams to miss on these guys because it is truly hard to identify what the outcome of these guys will be long-term. For example, in 2015, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis, Jr. barely made the top 30 international prospects list. Outcomes can vary widely.

Either way, adding at least three more international players with some upside to the Royals farm system is exciting.