Yankees lose top international prospect to Mets after scouting shakeup, per report

Dominican shortstop Wandy Asigen, one of the top prospects for the 2026 international signing period, will sign with the New York Mets after previously agreeing to a deal with the New York Yankees, reports Baseball America. Asigen's signing bonus is expected to be in the $3.8 million range. The 2026 signing period opens on Jan. 15.

The Yankees and Asigen had a verbal agreement in place, which is common in international amateur free agency, even though such agreements are technically against the rules. New York cut ties with international scouting director Donny Rowland in November; however, at that point, Asigen backed out of his agreement and shopped around for a new deal, per the New York Post.

"His contract had expired, so just like everything else, you've got to make some very difficult decisions," Yankees GM Brian Cashman said about Rowland last month (via MLB.com). "I've been involved with Donny Rowland for a long time. But fork in the road, contract had expired, and so I made the difficult decision to look for a different lead voice in that chair."

Asigen's situation is similar to that of a college recruit who changes his commitment after the head coach is fired. It is not uncommon for teams to back out of verbal agreements -- the Los Angeles Dodgers backed out of several deals to save their bonus pool money for Roki Sasaki last offseason -- though it's not often a player backs out of a deal, especially a top-ranked one like Asigen.

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MLB Pipeline ranks Asigen, 16, as the second best prospect for the 2026 international signing period. Here's their scouting report:

Asigen has been heralded as having arguably the most advanced offensive profile among his class ... He has ripped off 110+ mph exit velocities and is repeatedly able to find the barrel during in-game action. Asigen has a knack for creating loft from his frame, something that should allow him to continue to tap into his above-average power as he continues to fill out. The quickness of his hands has evaluators excited about the future potential impact he can have with the bat.

Defensively, many of those same actions work in his favor. While his arm is merely average at this stage, he performs many of the quick-twitch movements that evaluators look for when projecting a young player's ability to stick at shortstop. Asigen has a nose for the ball and his wheels – which have been clocked at 6.5 seconds on 60-yard dash times – allow him to cover tons of ground laterally.

The annual international signing period is separate from the posting windows for Japanese league veterans Tatsuya Imai, Munetaka Murakami, and Kazuma Okamoto. Those players are all at least 25 years old and therefore able to sign a contract of any size. The international signing period applies to players under 25, the vast majority of whom are amateur players in Latin America.

Teams are given a set bonus pool each international signing period. They can trade for an additional 60% of their bonus pool, but the pool is a hard cap. Small market teams have the largest 2026 bonus pool at just over $8 million, per Baseball America. The Mets and Yankees both have a $5.44 million bonus pool, so the Mets are giving most of their bonus money to Asigen.

The Yankees cut ties with Rowland after years of big-money misses in international free agency. From 2017-23, they gave out eight bonuses of at least $1 million, and only Jasson Domínguez and Kevin Alcántara (traded for Anthony Rizzo in 2021) have reached the big leagues. Five of the other six have yet to play above Single-A.