Texas Rangers sign Mexican League pitcher

The Texas Rangers have signed 19 year old righthanded pitcher Florencio Serrano from the Mexican League for an $850,000 bonus, per multiple reports. The space available in the bonus pool to sign Serrano reportedly came from the slot money acquired in the Jurickson Profar trade.

Serrano originally had a deal in the 2017-18 signing period with the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs were subject to a limit of $300,000 per player in that period, and while the bonus for Serrano was $1.2 million, it was originally understood that $900,000 of that was going to his Mexican League team, and that portion does not count against the international pool money. However, it turned out Serrano was getting more than that, and MLB voided the deal, and soon thereafter MLB suspended signings of players from Mexican League teams due to disputes over how bonuses were being allocated.

The freeze was lifted earlier this year, however, and the Rangers are cashing in by grabbing a promising young pitcher.