Wander Franco

Signed with the Tampa Bay Rays as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic for $3.85 million on July 2, 2017... switch-hitting shortstop had been ranked No. 1 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 30 International Prospects list when he signed with the Rays... from Bani, Dominican Republic... was scouted and signed by the Rays' director of international scouting Carlos Rodriguez and Dominican Republic scouting supervisor Danny Santana... Franco is the nephew of Major League infielder Erick Aybar and former Major League infielder Willy Aybar, who spent five years in the Majors; he also has two older brothers playing in the Minors: Wander Javier Franco, 22, a third baseman in the Royals organization and Wander Alexander Franco, 20, a corner infielder in the Astros system... was ranked by MLB.com as baseball's No. 2 overall prospect as of June 2019... was an Appalachian League post-seaosn All-Star in 2018... was named the Appy League's Player of the Year while with Princeton in 2018... named a Baseball American Rookie All-Star and Minor League All-Star in 2018... selected as a MiLB.com Rays All-Star in 2018.