"Good morning. Despite our restrictions on signing international amateur free agents this season, we believe that we have had a very successful signing period. We have inked ten young players. We have offers out to two more.
"We are particularly excited to announce the signing of Abdul-Karim Hamal out of Afghanistan. Abdul is a 17-year-old third baseman whom our scouts are very high on. They say he projects as a first division regular with a strong arm and plus-plus power into the gaps. I'm told that he is very intelligent.
Abdul-Karim Hamal
"But don't count out our other new additions to our international complex. We wouldn't have signed these guys if we didn't think they might contribute one day.
"Starting pitcher Taysir bin Yusuf comes to us from Lebanon. He has three solid pitches.
"We have signed one outfielder, Manchu Chiang, from Taiwan. He has a plus-plus hit tool and projects as a left fielder.
"There are three catchers in this year's IAFA class.
- Mamdouh Qasim, from Kuwait, has plus framing and blocking skills and a plus hit tool.
- Jesús Rivera, out of Curaçao, has a big arm.
- Fernando Valle, from Venezuela, has above average power.
"Finally, we have four potential first basemen:
- Loo Yin, from China, with a plus-plus hit tool.
- Jabbar bin Yusef from Afghanistan.
- Paco Hernández from Chile.
- Jackson 'Scotty' Welch from Israel.