Dermis García. Wilkerman García. Raimfer Salinas. Antonio Cabello. Alexander Vargas. Oswald Peraza. Hans Montero. Hoy Park. Have you heard of them recently? Do you remember them?
A few of of them reached the majors, yes, or had moderate success in the minors in 2025, but in all fairness, their careers haven’t developed the way they wanted. Some fans might even include Brando Mayea and Roderick Arias in that group, but they still have a chance to have an MLB career. It’s important to note, however, that the former hasn’t made it out of the Complex League, and the latter had an 88 wRC+ in 465 plate appearances in Low-A last year — his second in a row there.
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Those are some of the highest-profile international free agency busts in recent memory, with some of them collecting bonuses as high as $4 million. The Yankees’ system, however, was also damaged by the signings that didn’t take place, or the ones they lost through the years: it seems that, except for Jasson Domínguez, they haven’t had an amateur free agent making a real impact since maybe Luis Severino, and he was signed in 2011. One could certainly pick nits at Domínguez’s level of impact as well.
It’s hard to point the finger at the players in this group: they were 16 or 17 at the time of signing their contracts, getting hefty bonuses that changed their lives for better or for worse. They often fell victim to huge and unfair expectations for prospects of that age. In the end, their failure to establish themselves as major leaguers was hardly their fault. Of course, maybe one or two of that group could have achieved more and didn’t have the fortitude to make it happen. That’s baseball, Suzyn. However, the Yankees’ employees making the decisions and paying the bonuses on the team might have misjudged their talent and failed to give them the tools to succeed.
Those misses likely led to the organization parting ways with Donny Rowland, their director of international scouting since 2010. To replace him, the Yanks recently appointed Mario Garza, whose experience didn’t come in scouting per se, but instead, in player development and coaching.
Garza hopes to leverage that knowledge and experience into a solid job in his new position. He speaks Spanish and, per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, learned how to build lasting relationships with Latin American players. The Yankees have a lot of ground to make up on the race to dominate the Latin American market, but they feel Garza’s ability to communicate and generate trust can result in more quality signings.
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Garza is also willing to lean on smart, prepared people to reclaim their place as a preferred landing spot for Asian players. The West Coast teams—mainly the Dodgers—have nabbed most of the elite Japanese and Korean talent in the last few years, including some players the Yankees pursued, such as 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Reports that the Yankees added Matt Slater and Nao Masamoto to the mix are extremely positive. The former, who worked 18 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, is “very connected in Asia,” as Garza told Kuty. The latter became a key cog in the Cubs’ ability to recruit Asian players in recent seasons. Yu Darvish, Seiya Suzuki, and Shota Imanaga are some examples.
To make a long story short, the Yankees needed to implement some changes to their international scouting and player acquisition practices. And the moment they decided to take that step, everybody knew it was going to hurt for some time. Indeed, Rowland’s preexisting agreements with the latest IFA prospects, like Wandy Asigen, became unfortunate casualties.
It’s important to be patient, though, because changes of this magnitude often take time. We are talking about overhauling an entire system, modifying the way dozens of people work, and how they approach the young players, coaches, instructors, agents, and even their own scouts.
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Right now, the Yankees are just starting to implement these changes, so expecting them to land top-notch talents immediately is not realistic. They did well to reach a pre-agreement with top international catcher Sebastián Pérez a few days ago, but they will have to actually get his signature on January 15, 2027, and it’s no longer just a formality with them. It has to happen before everyone can pop the champagne, with Pérez and other potential recruits for next year.
It’s also pertinent to point out that we are in the final year of the current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA. A contentious labor fight is on the horizon, and for all we know, the current controversial signing system could change (a draft was floated last time around). Nonetheless, the Yankees—and every MLB team—will still need quality scouting of Latin American and Asian talent anyway.
Changes needed to be made, and they finally happened. Now, patience is required.
