For the third time in the past four international signing periods, the Yankees signed their No. 1 target. The club agreed to terms with 17-year-old Cuban outfielder Brandon Mayea on a $4.35 million deal, according to one of his trainers, Angelo Ramos. The agreement also includes a $100,000 scholarship.
Mayea is rated the No. 9 international prospect in the class, according to MLB Pipeline, while FanGraphs ranks him No. 2 out of players eligible to sign this cycle, behind 16-year-old catcher Ethan Salas, who signed with the Padres for $5.6 million. The Yankees first started scouting Mayea nearly three years ago when he was training in the Dominican Republic at the Jaime Ramos Baseball Academy. Area scouts told Yankees international amateur scouting director Donny Rowland that he needed to keep an eye on the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Mayea because of how well-rounded a prospect he had already become.
“You watch him in center field, and you know it’s really good,” Rowland said in a telephone interview on Monday. “You watch him run, you know he can fly. Then you watch him hit and it’s like, wow, the bat might be the best of his tools. That’s what impressed me the most.”
Once he works his way through the minors, Rowland views Mayea as a “lockdown center fielder.” The Yankees’ scouting report of Mayea calls him a “top-of-the-scale” runner who has above-average defensive potential in center, above-average range, an above-average to well-above-average arm and above-average accuracy. Rowland said Mayea’s bat is considered his best tool right now, especially when comparing him with other prospects his age.
FanGraphs noted in its scouting report how Mayea has the ability to “punish the baseball” because of his lofted swing path. FanGraphs also writes that Mayea is “an exceptional, well-rounded prospect for his age.” Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com wrote in Mayea’s report that international scouts have praised the newest Yankees signing for having “uncommon bat speed and power,” with one evaluator comparing him to a mini Gary Sheffield.
Angelo Ramos, who along with his brother Jamie has trained Mayea for the past three years, believes there’s potential for his client to eventually become one of baseball’s very best players if he hits his ceiling.
“He’s a five-tool player,” Ramos said in a phone interview. “The player I would compare him to is Mookie Betts. Mayea has good swing speed, his contact is almost always hard and he has a good launch angle. On defense, he is a future Gold Glove winner and capable of playing center field. He’s super fast and runs a 6.2 to a 6.4 in the 60-yard dash. He’s got a cannon of an arm. Off the field, he’s a leader who is always motivating others. His intelligence is also well above others for his age.”
It’s impossible to know what Mayea’s future looks like. He’s several years away from even knocking on the door to the big leagues. But Mayea’s current tools are what encouraged Rowland about his future. Rowland said Mayea’s tools and athleticism continued to be premium since the Yankees first started scouting him. He has only continued getting better while training in the Dominican Republic over the past three years.
That belief in Mayea’s future could be seen in the team’s level of investment. The Yankees used a little more than 82 percent of their $5.284 million signing bonus pool to land Mayea. The club followed a similar strategy when signing their previous top targets. First, it was Jasson Dominguez, who was given a $5.1 million signing bonus as a 16-year-old outfielder out of the Dominican Republic in 2019. In 2022, the Yankees signed 17-year-old shortstop Roderick Arias for $4 million. Like Mayea in 2023, both got nearly all of the team’s international signing bonus budget. However, Rowland said the three signings should not be viewed as an organizational philosophy of using most of the bonus pool to sign one prospect.
“We are evaluating these players long before any ranking of these individual signing classes,” Rowland said. “Also, while signing volume can be a sound strategy in the right circumstance, the roster crunch hinders that option somewhat. We thought so much of Dominguez, Arias and Mayea that we were very comfortable in investing what we invested in them. In other years, that may not be the case. It all depends on who that No. 1 target is and how much is necessary in order to sign them.
“The Yankees, obviously, want the best player in the market, whether it be internationally or in the draft. It’s not, ‘We’re going to get the best player no matter what.’ That’s not the case. I wouldn’t expect that to continue every year. Each situation is independent of itself.”
It’s unclear where Mayea’s professional career with the Yankees will start. Ramos said other Cuban-born players have had difficulty with visas and they’ve needed to stay in their country as the process gets sorted out. If Mayea does stay in the Dominican Republic, he could end up playing in the Dominican Summer League, which is where Arias played in 2022.
But no matter where he plays this coming season, the Yankees are thrilled to have him in their organization.
“We think he has a chance to be one heck of a major league player,” Rowland said. “He’s got a long road to go but he’s coming in with all of the right equipment.”
(Top photo and video of Brandon Mayea: Courtesy of Angelo Ramos)
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