The Los Angeles Dodgers landed the gem of the international free agent market when Roki Sasaki announced his intent to sign with them.
It completed a multiyear pursuit of the right-hander as the Dodgers have long coveted the Japanese phenom. However, it also put them in a tough spot with their other 2025 international signing period commitments.
That led to the Dodgers acquiring bonus pool money from the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies in two trades that netted them around $2 million more to spend.
Some of that money went toward Sasaki’s signing bonus while the rest of it has been used toward signing other international prospects.
One of those players the Dodgers signed is Joseph Deng. With Deng signing his contract, he becomes the first player from South Sudan, Africa, to sign with a professional baseball team.
Deng is a 17-year-old right-handed pitcher that stands 6-foot-7 with a fastball that sits in the mid 90’s,
It has not been publicly disclosed how much Deng received to sign. Any amount over $10,000 would count against their bonus pool.
The Dodgers have been one of just two clubs to begin investing in the African baseball market while most other clubs are focused on Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.
Along with the Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates also signed Armstrong Muhoozi from Uganda, making him one of two players to sign from Africa this period.
The Dodgers previously made history with the signings of pitcher Ben Serunkuma and catcher Umar Male during the 2021-22 international signing period as they were the first two players to sign contracts from Uganda.
In addition, the Dodgers signed another catcher from Uganda, Allan Atoji, during the last signing period as they continue trying to find players from a market that has mostly been ignored by other clubs.
Dodgers trades for international bonus pool money
To acquire more bonus pool money, the Dodgers traded a pair of outfield prospects. The first move was sending Dylan Campbell to the Phillies for a reported $750,000 to $1 million.
Campbell was selected by the Dodgers with the 136th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. He was the compensation pick for the Los Angeles Angels signing Tyler Anderson from the Dodgers.
They followed that up by trading Arnaldo Lantigua to the Reds for more than $1 million, which may have been up to $1.5 million.
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