Detroit Tigers Officially Sign International Star To Franchise-Record Contract
With the first day of the international signing period beginning on Jan. 15, the Detroit Tigers made headlines with their signing.
According to Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press, they have officially signed Dominican Republic outfielder Cris Rodriguez to a franchise-record $3.2 million deal for an international free agent.
The Tigers had roughly $7.6 million of bonus pool funds, so they feel very strongly about what type of ceiling Rodriguez has to spend 42% of it on one player.
And it seems like it's for good reason.
At just 16 years old, he's already 6-foot-3 and 200-plus pounds. He's considered a top four prospect by the two main scouting sites, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.
"Few players in the 2025 class can match Rodriguez in terms of physicality and power ... If everything clicks and can make enough contact, the upside is there to develop 30-plus home run power. Rodriguez moves well for his size with plus speed underway, which gives him a chance to develop in center field, though at his size, he could shift to a corner depending on his physical development," writes Ben Badler of Baseball America for his scouting report.
Rodriguez will turn 17 in January, and even though Detroit's outfield looks set for the future with Parker Meadows, Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter in those positions, by the time the star international prospect is ready for The Show, those three could be aged out.
Greene is 24, Meadows is 25 and Carpenter is 27.
The addition of Rodriguez to the mix puts him on a similar timeline with Max Clark, the 20-year-old outfielder who is ranked as the Tigers' No. 2 overall prospect.
That is exciting for Detroit, and spending this amount of money to lock up one of the best players in this international class is a clear sign that things are moving in the right direction.