Reds, 12-year old outfielder reach reported $2.8 million contract agreement

The Cincinnati Reds have reportedly devoted $2.8 million of their future international free agent budget to a 12-year old.

And no, that's not a typo.

According to reporter Wilber Sanchez, the Reds have reached a pre-contract agreement with 12-year old Julio Ramos, an outfielder from the Dominican Republic.

Sanchez quotes an unnamed source comparing Ramos to Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez.

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How is this possible? Well, it's quite the gray area.

Amateur players from outside the United States aren't subject to the draft. Instead, they are acquired via an international signing process. Each team gets a certain signing bonus pool to spend each year, and they can use it to see fit.

The area it gets especially dicey is that players can sign once they are 16. But teams are scouting the hotbeds for talent before then, in hopes of having contracts agreed to in advance.

Since everyone scouts and pre-signs in advance, teams have to look earlier and earlier to find their new phenoms. If they actually wait until players turn 16 to start negotiations, it's already too late.

That's how the Reds have apparently reached an agreement with a 12-year old, or how the Phillies reportedly agreed with an 11-year old recently.

It goes without saying that so much can change between now and the time a player like Ramos turns 16, let alone by the time he's 22 and trying to break into the major leagues.

It's also important to note that this is just a report, and that given it's a pre-agreement, it's hard for anything here to be proven as legitimate.

The reality is that every team is trying to find the next phenom out of the Dominican Republic. And it appears the Reds thing they have found one, at least according to this report.

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