A new international amateur signing period has arrived in Major League Baseball. Later today the Orioles are expected to announce their latest class of international signees. Their class, per reports, will be headed by Dominican shortstop Luis Ayden Almeyda.

A right-handed hitter, the 16-year-old Almeyda, according to Baseball America, will get a bonus of over $2 million. The Orioles have never had an international amateur sign for $2 million or more, and Almeyda’s bonus would easily beat the previous record, set this time last year.

Here are the seven-figure bonuses from the O’s in the last two classes:

$1.7M – OF Braylin Tavera, from Jan. 15, 2022.

$1.3M – C Samuel Basallo from Jan. 15, 2021.

The noticeable increase in international spending by the Orioles included six-figure bonuses for Edwin Amparo and Leandro Arias. They have more in common than cash. Amparo ($650,000) and Arias ($600,000) are Dominican-born shortstops. They're teenagers and switch-hitters, with the latter ranked as the No. 46 prospect in MLBPipeline.com's Top 50 list. Here's what the club said about both players in Saturday's news release announcing the 24 signings: Arias, 16, is a shortstop prospect...