NY Mets stealing Yankees' top international prospect has only one red flag

By now, you've heard the news. The New York Mets have once again stolen one of the New York Yankees toys; however, instead of it being a big league piece like Devin Williams or Luke Weaver, it's a potential star of the future in 16-year-old Dominican shortstop prospect Wandy Asigen.

Asigan, long thought to have an agreement in place with the Yankees, will instead be signing with the Mets for the whopping sum of $3.8 million once the international amateur free agent signing period opens on January 15. Ranked No. 2 in this year's international class, he'll be right up there with last year's gem, Elian Peña, as one of the hottest youngsters in the Mets' system.

There's just one problem, and it has to do with the Yankees and their inability to get much out of the Latin American pipeline.

The Yankees are the glaring red flag that the Mets need to worry about regarding Wandy Asigen

Few teams have thrown around as much cash in the international market as the Yankees, who typically favor players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Recent history shows the Mets' neighbors in the Bronx have spent nearly as much as a Latin American country's GDP in that market, but they've had relatively little to show for it in recent years.

Some of those signings are relatively recent, so the jury is still out, but there are some notable busts as well.

Take Jasson Dominguez, for example. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman nicknamed him "the Martian," but witha 103 wRC+ and really poor left field defense in his rookie season in 2025, he looked more like the "Replacement Level Player."

Then there's current Mets backup catcher Luis Torrens, who signed for $1.3 million out of Venezuela in 2012. No one will complain about Torrens as a rock-solid second-string catcher, but clearly the Yankees had hoped for more.

Dermis Garcia, whom the Yankees signed for $3 million back in 2014, managed just 39 games in 2022 with the then-Oakland Athletics, striking out an eye-popping 44% of the time.

You get the drift. The vast majority of this list is filled with busts, and those who are on the more recent end have yet to break out and languish behind other prospects in the Yankees' system.

Does that mean that Asigen is guaranteed the same fate? Of course, not. The hit rate, even for the cream of the crop of these types of players, is very low. Most of them sign when they are just 16 or 17 years old.

Still, the Yankees do worse than most considering the money they spend in this market, and it's worth remembering that, while having patience with Asigen once he officially signs and starts getting his first taste of pro reps in the DSL.