Mets to spend $5 million on 16-year-old Elian Peña in international signing splas

The New York Mets intend to allocate a huge chunk of their international bonus pool money to a 16-year-old shortstop from the Dominican Republic named Elian Peña, league sources confirmed. Baseball America first reported the agreement, which is said to be worth around $5 million.

Multiple rival evaluators labeled Peña as a top-tier talent and said he could be the best player in next year’s class. The international signing period opens on Jan. 15, 2025, so things won’t become official until then. However, teams tend to strike deals with top available teenagers early.

With $6,261,600 to spend on prospects for the 2025 international signing period, the Mets would be investing approximately 80 percent of their amount toward Peña.

Landing Peña would present a significant shift for the Mets: They’ve never doled out anything close to that amount of money to an international free-agent prospect. The previous high happened last January when the Mets gave Venezuelan catcher Yovanny Rodriguez $2.85 million, about half of their pool money.

Rival scouts say Peña may be the best player in the class, but his defensive profile raises questions.