Bill Koch

Monday

Jul 2, 2018 at 9:09 PM

WASHINGTON — Eduardo Rodriguez still remembers the stress that accompanied tryout days in his native Venezuela.

Teenage boys by the dozens would go to the nearby diamond, with big league franchises continuing their never-ending pursuit of talent. The Red Sox left-hander was one of the lucky ones. He was signed by the Orioles in 2010 for $175,000 bonus and assigned to their minor league system. He eventually made his debut with Boston in 2015, that coming [...]

WASHINGTON — Eduardo Rodriguez still remembers the stress that accompanied tryout days in his native Venezuela.

“You just go on the mound and try to throw as hard as you can,” Rodriguez, 25, said. “Show your breaking ball and the stuff you have. It’s kind of crazy.”

It’s this time of year where the attention ramps up, with Major League Baseball’s international signing period opening on Monday. Boston reportedly reached deals with at least a dozen players, including outfielder Eduardo Lopez. The Dominican Republic native was the No. 20 international prospect available per Baseball America, agreeing with the Red Sox for a reported signing bonus of $1.15 million.

“That’s special for everybody,” Rodriguez said. “If you really want to play on a ballclub and you want to play pro baseball, the day you sign is one of the best days of your life.”

Boston also made a trade to increase the pool of $4,983,500 allotted to the team during this period, sending minor league outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola to the Reds for a reported $1.5 million in cash. The Red Sox figured to be aggressive in this area of talent acquisition due to their thin farm system and low expected draft position in 2019.

“It’s part of our overall plan of trying to restock our system,” Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Saturday. “It takes a while when you’re signing some of those youngsters there. We did it last year, too.”

Rodriguez was one of six international signings in uniform for Boston on Monday during the series opener against the Nationals. Fellow Venezuelans Sandy Leon and William Cuevas, Xander Bogaerts (Aruba), Eduardo Nunez (Dominican Republic) and Rafael Devers (Dominican Republic) were all signed as international free agents, with the Red Sox dishing out nearly $2 million combined to secure Bogaerts and Devers as teenagers. Nunez is the oldest of the group, signed by the Yankees in 2004.

“It is a lot of pressure,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a lot of kids. Some have more talent than other ones. It’s kind of hard.

“Some of them are going to make it. Some of them are not going to make it. Every time you see a tryout it’s like 40 kids and they sign two or three of them.”

For Rodriguez, the first day came and went without any offers. It wasn’t until he neared his 17th birthday that the Orioles ultimately decided to sign him. Rodriguez said he still remembers at least a handful of players who had the requisite talent but simply froze in the face of two dozen radar guns or handfuls of stopwatches.

“You see kids getting to the mound and you’re like, ‘Hey, that kid is over there. He has this, he has that,’ ” Rodriguez said. “And then when you go to the mound those two or three kids pass in front of you and throw four or five mph [slower] than you. You know that they’re scared a little bit. It’s kind of hard for a lot of kids, but when they make it, they make it.”

Four of the top 20 players listed on SoxProspects.com were international signings from Venezuela, including No. 2 prospect Bryan Mata. The 19-year-old right-hander agreed to terms in 2016 and is currently playing at Class-A Salem. Left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez, third baseman Danny Diaz and shortstop Antoni Flores have also helped bolster Boston’s minor league ranks.

— bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25

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