Texas Rangers sign 17 year old Venezuelan shortstop

The Texas Rangers have signed Osleivis Basabe, a 17 year old shortstop out of Venezuela, Ben Badler reports. Basabe, who was #49 on the BA top 50 international prospect list and #24 on the MLB Pipeline list, is listed at 6’1”, 160 lbs. No bonus information is provided by Badler, as has been BA’s custom this signing period with players from Venezuela, though Jesse Sanchez has the bonus at $550,000.

Basabe gets high marks for his speed and athleticism, and has played both shortstop and centerfield, but there are questions about his hit tool, although Badler says Basabe led a four team developmental league in Venezuela this winter in batting average.

Despite signing several players subject to the J-2 international signing bonus pools after missing out on Shohei Ohtani, the Rangers still had about $2.875 million available to spend in this period before this signing, having just traded for $750,000 in bonus pool money from the Giants as part of the Matt Moore trade, so this would put them at around $2.325 million.