The youthful 17-year-old Cuban gardener, Luis Mario Pino, agreed to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals for $ 767K, according to famous journalist Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (Twitter links). Pino had multiple offers for both this signing period and the next, but ultimately decided to join the 2021-22 class of international signers of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox were among the teams said to be interested in Pino, who trained for scouts in the Dominican Republic in late October.
The Tampa Bay Athletics and Rays were then the favorites to sign Pino when the international transfer window opened on January 15. The San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres had also shown interest in Pino, who appeared to have a bonus of $ 1MM or more.
Pino, a right-handed hitter, who traveled legally from Cuba to the Dominican Republic in December 2019, had a presentation before some scouts in October 2020 in San Pedro de Macorís, on the eastern side of the Caribbean country and then had another session.
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In a normal situation, Luis Mario Pino Pérez, who was born in February 2004, could have signed since July 2, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, which canceled the seasons in the Minor Leagues, he shortened the league calendar Older and reduced the domestic collegiate draw, MLB froze international signatures for six months, that is, until last January.
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