Marlins expected to land Andrew Salas in 2025 international signing class

[Kevin Barral]

Salas will reportedly follow in his brother's footsteps once he's eligible to sign a professional contract next January.

We are only a few days into the 2024 international signing period, but it's never too soon to look ahead. On Friday, Joe Doyle of FSS Plus reported that the Miami Marlins are the favorites to land third baseman/outfielder Andrew Salas in 2025. 

The Miami Marlins are favorites to sign 3B/OF Andrew Salas in 2025 international class. Andrew is the brother of Padres' super-prospect Ethan Salas. Polish over pure athleticism. Highest-level performer. Great approach, mature play-style. Could move quick. Top 10 guy in class. pic.twitter.com/jP1IHGlFbT

— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) January 19, 2024

On Saturday, ESPN's Enrique Rojas confirmed the agreement. Salas will get a signing bonus of nearly $4M.

The 15-year-old switch-hitter is listed at 6'1", 140 pounds, according to Perfect Game.

Andrew will be the third Salas brother to be signed by a big league team. Infielder Jose Salas signed with the Marlins for $2.8M as the top player in their 2019 international class. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins exactly one year ago as part of the Luis Arraez package. Catcher Ethan Salas signed with the San Diego Padres for $5.6M in 2023 and is already among the highest-rated prospects in all of baseball.

The Salas brothers were born in Florida, but later moved to Venezuela, allowing them to begin their professional careers at a younger age.

In recent years, the Marlins have preferred quantity over quality in international free agency. Venezuelan OF Luis Cova is their only signing since 2022 to receive more than $1M. This represents a switch in that philosophy because paying Andrew will limit their bonus pool flexibility to make additional signings in 2025.

Salas will receive the largest payday for a Marlins international signing since Victor Victor Mesa ($5.25M in 2018).

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[Seth Stohs]

How many more Salas brothers are there? 

Ethan had quite the debut. 

Jose was just awful in 2023 for the Cedar Rapids Kernels (High-A) but obviously still has a ton of talent. 

[One Regend]

So they're taking the "quality over quantity" approach this year.

The other way around hasn't worked for the previous 6 years so it's refreshing that they're trying something different instead of doubling down on something that hasn't worked for them.

Still remains to be seen whether it'll work out for them. We're relying on them actually developing these players, which is something they have been generationally bad at for years now. Balkovec was hired to hopefully fix this problem. At this point, anything could be better than what the Quartet of Svihlik, Denbo, Lorenzo, and DeGroot had done up to this point, but because this is the Marlins, I could be proven wrong at any time.