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By Jon Vankin
Contributing Sports Writer
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The 2025 MLB offseason is over. But it's never too soon for the 2026 offseason to begin, apparently.
In that spirit, the analytical baseball site Fangraphs on Thursday published its new updates of the site's international player rankings, predicting which teams will sign the top overseas prospects not this year, but next. In fact, many of the prospects covered by Fangraphs are not yet eligible to be signed by MLB teams year, because they are not yet 16 years old.
That is the case with the top prospect predicted to be signed by the New York Yankees, Wandy Asigen, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound shortstop out of the Dominican Republic who is currently 15 years old. According to Fangraphs he will be 16.4 years old on the first international signing day of 2026, which is Jan. 15.
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Because Asigen is so young, scouts expect that as his frame fills out, he is a probable candidate for a switch to third base.
"Asigen, a lefty swinger with serious pop, is expected to outgrow the position in due time and shift to third, given the current status of his footwork and future projections," wrote Adam Weinrib who covers the Yankees for Fansided. "A lot can happen between now and then. Still, though ... that swing."
Fangraphs also projected that Assign's signing bonus could be as high as $4 million, with a low of $3.5 million.
Joe Doyle, a prospect analyst for the site Future Star Series Plus, wrote that "some believe" Asigen is the top prospect in the 2026 international free agent class.
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"Big twitch, bigger bat speed. Athletic and tooled up," Doyle wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account, describing Assign's attributes. "Aggressive swings and expands the zone at times. Footwork/stride likely shifts him to third base."
If the Yankees end up paying $4 million to sign Asigen next year, he would become their most expensive international amateur free agent since they signed Jasson Dominguez, also from the Dominican Republic, for $5.1 million in 2019.
Dominguez, a switch-hitting outfielder who saw limited action at the big league level in 2023 and 2024, is projected to be the Yankees' opening day leadoff hitter in the upcoming season.
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