Texas Rangers have signed two J-2 prospects

The Texas Rangers have signed 16 year old Venezuelan shortstop Edgar Pineda, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America.

This is after signing 16 year old Dominican righthanded pitcher Jeffrey Nunez yesterday.

Starting on July 2, 16 year old international players can be signed as free agents.  The Rangers made a big splash last year, vastly exceeding their bonus pool while signing, among others, Yeyson Yrizarri, Marcos Diplan, Jose Almonte, and Michael DeLeon.  As a result, the Rangers cannot sign any international free agent in this year's J-2 class to a bonus of more than $250,000.

Badler says the Rangers gave Nunez a $250,000 bonus, while Pineda received a bonus of $135,000.  The Rangers still have roughly $1.7 million available in their bonus pool to spend this year.

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