Oakland Athletics land highly-touted international free agent Robert Puason

The Oakland Athletics have made one of their biggest international free agent splashes in years with the signing of highly-touted Dominican shortstop Robert Puason.

The Oakland Athletics may be in the midst of an intense wild card race, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t still have one eye on the future. That was made apparent when the A’s came to terms with one of their biggest international free agent signings in team history on Tuesday.

As first reported by MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, the A’s officially agreed to a deal with 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Robert Puason. Puason was one of the most highly-touted international free agents on the market being ranked as the No. 2 prospect by MLB.com.

Only fellow Dominican, outfielder Jasson Dominguez, was ranked higher and that wasn’t even until very recently. For the better part of the past two years, Puason has been regarded as the top prospect in this crop of international free agents.

In fact, he originally agreed to a verbal deal with the Atlanta Braves when he was just 14-years-old but the contract was deemed ineligible after Atlanta violated international signing rules.

Puason stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs in at 165 pounds with the hitting and fielding traits to become a star at the major-league level. The switch-hitter is as a polished hitter for his age and has shown excellent line drive potential with his quick, fluid approach at the plate.

On top of that, Puason is a superb athlete which helps his range at shortstop. He has above-average footwork and mechanics for a player with such little inexperience and even though his arm could still use some work, it’s passable for the time being.

All-around, Puason is a complete package as a prospect. While he may only be 16-years-old, the traits and potential are there for him to be a special player one day and it’s easy to see why scouts and analysts love his game so much.

Here is an expert from MLB.com’s scouting report on Puason.

"“Overall, Puason is a fast-twitch athlete who makes solid contact from both sides of the plate. He has shown a polished approach with fluid swings and the ability to spray line drives to all fields. He has good barrel control and extension for his age (16). Like most prospects his age, he continues to work on his hitting mechanics, and it’s the development of the hit tool that could make him an everyday player in the Major Leagues one day.“On defense, he shows fluid actions and good footwork. He has an above average throwing arm with solid carry, and it’s expected to get better as he develops. Add good hands along with great instincts, and it makes for an above-average package that could keep him at shortstop for the rest of his career.”"

This is the A’s biggest international free agent signing since inking Yoenis Cespedes to a four-year, $36 million contract back in 2012. While Puason’s is only anticipated to be worth around $5 million, that is only due to recent restrictions on the quantity of money teams have in their international signing pool.

More recently, the A’s landed outfielder Lazaro Armenteros in 2016 and signed him to a deal worth around $3 million. Armenteros is a top-10 prospect in the Athletics organization — top-five by some analysts — and is currently impressing with Single-A Stockton at the moment.

Ultimately, this is a huge get for an A’s farm system set to lose some of its top prospects in the near future. Each of the A’s top prospects — Jesus Luzardo, Sean Murphy, and A.J. Puk — likely won’t be considered prospects for too much longer.

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If anything, the only thing that has held them back this long has been injuries.

But their promotions will mean that the A’s will need to find new prospects to sure up their farm system and keep it running smoothly. Bleacher Report ranked Oakland’s farm system as the 17th best in the MLB just after this year’s MLB Draft.

With the addition of Puason, the hope is that that ranking could continue to climb.

We likely won’t see the Dominican prospect make his minor-league debut until 2020 or 2021 and even then he’ll likely start in the Arizona Rookie League. A major-league stint is far in the future, but at the very least, this is a great move for the future of this team.

All eyes might be on the A’s playoff push as the summer months heat up, but Oakland’s management is making moves for the future just as the team is making moves in the present.