Mining for Prospects: Untapped Markets

Dovydas Neverauskas hails from
baseball neophyte Lithuania

A few weeks ago, it became public knowledge that the Pirates signed Australian pitching Nick Hutchings back in November.  One of the interesting developments revealed by the signing was a relationship between Pirates and the Australian League team Adelaide Bite.  Pirates scout Tony Harris doubles as the Bite's manager.  Hutchings is also one of several players in the Pirates organization from Australia.  None of them are big-time prospects or high-profile international signings, but that may come.

The "Other" Herrera

Dilson Herrera is Buried Treasure's #16 prospect on our top 30 list and his prospect profile was recently completed. During the course of research on Dilson, I came across an old piece of known, but somewhat forgotten news.  Here, I outlined the four international signings the Pirates had made up to that date. Since then, there has been a fifth signing, the other Herrera, Johan.  By signing bonus, Herrera actually received the second lowest amount, but it's still a substantial bonus.  For comparison, if Herrera, who hails from the Dominican Republic, has signed prior to the 2011 international free agent signing period, he would have received the second biggest amount for a non-Cuban defector in organizational history.