The Boston Red Sox signed Korean pitcher Chan-sol Lee and Venezuelan pitcher Greider Colina to minor league contracts on Monday, according to the team's official transaction log.
Lee was officially introduced as a member of the Red Sox on Tuesday.
Both prospects are 18 years old, although much more has been reported about Lee to this point. The right-hander was expected to be a first round pick in the Korean Baseball Organization Draft in September.
If a player skips the KBO Draft to sign with a foreign organization, they are not allowed to join a KBO club until they are two years removed from their time overseas. As a result, going straight to America is not a popular route for Korean high school ballplayers.
Ji-hwan Bae, Shin Soo Choo, Chan Ho Park and Ji-man Choi are among the recent Korean players who signed with MLB franchises out of high school.
Lee, who is 6-foot-1 and 194 pounds, has a fastball that approaches 95 miles per hour. During Seoul High School's run in this year's national tournament, Lee reportedly had a 6.30 ERA and 1.75 WHIP in 20 innings of work.
According to ESPN KBO insider Daniel Kim, Lee's signing bonus is worth $300,000. It is the second largest signing bonus the Red Sox have given out to an international free agent under chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, only behind Venezuelan pitcher Jedixson Paez's $450,000 deal in January 2021.
As for Boston's new Venezuelan pitching prospect, not much is known about Colina beyond him being right-handed and his birthday being listed as April 24, 2005.
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