Yankees make historic international signing as new director makes waves

What an eventful and healthy offseason of discourse. When fans weren't engaged in the hotly contested debate over the merits of the New York Yankees essentially running it back in 2026, they were melting down over the franchise's crumbling grip over the international markets.

The Yankees have long been dominant in Latin America. The prospects haven't always panned out, but they've signed several highly coveted seven-figure doozies over the years. They were set for another one to scribble on the dotted line when the international signing period kicked off last month, but before they could get there, their prime target, Wandy Asigen, got cold feet.

With Danny Rowland out, more and more top prospects from future classes began defecting. Finally, the Yankees brought in Mario Garza to stop the bleeding, and the new head honcho overseas is looking in every far-off corner to uncover talent, even scoping out the baseball wasteland known as Hungary.

Marko Morua, a 16-year-old Hungarian catcher, has made history by becoming the first player ever to be born and raised in Hungary to obtain a deal with a major league club.

Mario Garza shows the Yankees are going about international scouting differently by making a historic signing with Hungarian teenager Marko Morua

Morua, based on his background, might not seem like the type of prospect to get excited over. However, Garza and the Yankees were impressed enough to hand the youngster a $500K signing bonus. Sure, that's a far cry from the $5.1 million that the Yankees gave Jasson Dominguez in 2019, but it's no drop in the bucket.

Looking for a larger bonus to get excited about? Garza and the Yankees also picked off a more premium name this week, securing the rights to catcher Sebastian Perez after the Pirates' pre-agreement dissolved.

Yankee fans know MLB comps are a fool's errand at this stage of development, but fans might recognize Perez - who earned a $1.7 million bonus - from the bizarre and viral tweet that recently described him as Aaron Judge and Elly de la Cruz combined with Yadier Molina.

Will that happen? No. Is it nice to have those traits in your system? Surely.

Garza is no stranger to the organization, spending 16 years with New York and working in various roles. Most recently, he served as the director of baseball development and has also held titles such as director of Latin American operations and assistant director of international development. He was once a manager in both Single-A ball and the Gulf Coast League.

All the current top prospects we're excited to watch in spring training now are guys Garza was tasked with strategically developing. That should have fans pretty excited.

The Morua signing should tell us something else, too. It looks like he's ready to think differently from his predecessor. Under Rowland, there were far too many seven-figure busts. Now, we might see a more balanced approach and a better return on investment when the Yankees do spend big on one particular player.

As a repeat tax offender, the Yankees often have one of the smallest bonus pools to work with, so efficiency is key.

It will be a long time before we learn whether or not Morua and Perez amount to anything, but while you're drooling over Carlos Lagrange striking out Aaron Judge this spring, remember that the towering right-hander who currently ranks No. 2 on the Yankees' top prospects list was once an afterthought who signed for just $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic.

The international market will always be something of a crapshoot. We're talking about agreeing to life-changing deals with literal children. But Garza looks to be the adult in the room, and if he can steady the course, the Yankees can expect to have a productive pipeline throughout Latin America and elsewhere in the near future.