The Yankees have added a highly-touted international prospect to their farm system, as Bed Badler of Baseball America reports that the team signed 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Manny Cedeño to a contract on Friday that includes a $2.5 million signing bonus.
Cedeño, listed at 5-foot-11 and 181 pounds, is the No. 11 international prospect on MLB Pipeline’s Top 50 list and second-youngest player ranked. The teenage right-hander has also been graded evenly across MLB Pipeline’s 20-80 scale — he’s marked as a 50 overall with hitting and fielding tools placed at 55. According to the scouting report, Cedeño is considered a high-floor player who “boasts all the raw tools that clubs seek in a shortstop.”
Baseball America also has an evaluation of Cedeño, with Badler contending that the youngster displays bat speed and hand-eye coordination that helps him put the ball in play at a high rate. Badler says Cedeño possesses “a line-drive approach and the ball carries well off his bat for a player with his medium frame.”
Cedeño joins a Yankees international signing class that reportedly includes outfielders Ruben Castillo, Isaias Castillo, Edison Charles, and infielder Carlos Bello. Cedeño is the top-ranked prospect from the Dominican city of San Pedro de Macoris, known as a hotspot for developing shortstop talent. New York signed Robinson Cano from there in 2001, when he was just 18.
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