Getty
Yankees Manager Aaron Boone blows a bubble.
In the latest in a series of stunning departures, the New York Yankees have lost another top international prospect, according to a report by Spanish-language baseball journalist Wilber Sánchez. Venezuelan catching prospect José Colina is now at least the fifth international free agent prospect to leave the Yankees organization in less than two months.
“The Yankees continue losing players,” Sánchez wrote on Wednesday. “Representatives of Venezuelan catcher José Colina, a prospect from the 2027 international class, have decided to cancel the $600,000 pre-agreement they had with the Bronx organization. Colina is already in the Dominican Republic and in the coming days will be holding tryouts at the Ramos Academy.”
Each year, major league teams may sign international prospects as young as 16 years old starting on Jan. 15, with the 11-month signing period running through Dec. 15. But with no international draft, it is standard practice for organizations to reach informal pre-agreements with teenage prospects even before they hit the required minimum age of 16.
Colina, according to Baseball America, was born on Oct. 29, 2008, in Punto Fijo, Venezuela. That would currently make him 17 years old. But he reached his pre-agreement with the Yankees for a reported $600,000 bonus back in March 2024, when he was just 15, according to the Yankees IFA Signings social media account, which tracks international signings for the Bronx-based club.
Catching Prospect Said to Have ‘Big Potential’
Per a description posted by Yankees IFA Signings, Colina “has extremely soft hands and a plus throwing arm. Moved from the infield to catcher he’s got big potential. The Venezuelan has a picture perfect left-handed swing.”
Why did the 6-foot, 163-pound catcher decide to leave the Yankees? According to Sánchez, the reason is simple: money.
“Colina, one of the top catching prospects in the 2027 international class, has decided to cancel his pre-agreement with the New York Yankees, which included a $600,000 signing bonus,” Sánchez wrote. “Sources indicate that Colina is now expected to pursue a new deal that would land him a significantly higher bonus on the international market.”
But the 17-year-old, who will become eligible to sign with a big league club on Jan. 15 of next year, is only the latest international free agent to leave in a situation that apparently began with the firing of longtime international scouting director Danny Rowland in November.
3 Other IFA Prospects Spurn Yankees
A report on Jan. 25 by another Spanish-language baseball reporter, Héctor Gómez, indicated the Yankees lost three IFA prospects within a 24-hour period on that day.
“Leonardo Feliz becomes the third international player the Yankees have lost in less than 24 hours. The $1.3 million agreement between the Yankees and his representatives has fallen through,” Gómez wrote. “The Yankees and Mairon De La Rosa have parted ways. The $4.3 million agreement between the Yankees and the top hitter in the 2027 international class has fallen through.”
De La Rosa left the Yankees for the Seattle Mariners, accepting a bonus $500,000 lower than what the Yankees offered, at $3.8 million.
According to Gómez, “the third blow came with the departure of Josneybert Vera, a Venezuelan shortstop with great offensive and defensive skills.”
In December, in what may have been the worst blow to the Yankees’ international signing effort, Dominican Republic shortstop Wandy Asigen, 16, who was the No. 2 rated prospect in the 2026 signing class, per MLB Pipeline, reneged on his agreement with the Yankees to sign with the New York Mets for a $3.9 million bonus, according to the New York cable network SNY.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
More Heavy on Yankees
Loading more stories