For the first time in a long time, July 2 means something for Orioles fans. The date marks the beginning of the signing period for this year’s crop of 16-year-old international amateurs. One thing that has changed very quickly with Mike Elias as the O’s general manager is that the O’s care about signing these players and are making a real effort to do it. It is exciting.
The Orioles will have a total available pool of $6,481,200. They’re one of eight teams with the most available pool money to spend. Teams that selected in the Competitive Balance Round B in the most recent draft, as the Orioles did, are the teams with the biggest international pools.