David Keller Talks 2026 White Sox International Free Agent Class

The White Sox announced their 2026 international free agent class on Thursday, which marked the opening of the international signing period. It contains 18 players who combine for $5.835 million in signing bonuses.

The class features nine right-handed pitchers, three catchers, three shortstops and three outfielders, along with nine prospects from Dominican Republic, seven from Venezuela, and one each from Colombia and Mexico.

Baseball America's rankings of the top 50 2026 international free agents include two White Sox signees: Venezuelan catcher Fernando Graterol (No. 27) and outfielder Sebastián Romero (No. 31). Graterol is the highest ranked catching prospect by MLB Pipeline's 2026 international prospect rankings.

The White Sox expect to announce additional signings for this class in the future, but here's an overview of the initial class.

White Sox 2026 international free agent class. | Screenshot via White Sox news release

David Keller, special assistant to the executive vice president and general manager of international scouting for the White Sox, spoke Thursday about the class.

"Signing Day 2026. This is an exciting day for the White Sox," Keller said. "It's a celebration of the young men we're introducing to our organization. It marks the beginning of their official start to their professional journey and I'm just really proud of the efforts our team has put forth. I can't overstate how humble I am to be a small part of the process and excited to hand them off to Paul Janish and our talented player development staff. I just want to note that a day like today doesn't just happen. It requires a great deal of work and sacrifice from a lot of people over a number of years."

"I just wanted to thank some people. First and foremost, the support that we continue to receive from Chris and from ownership has been second to none. We've been able to communicate and collaborate effectively with departmental leaders in R&D, player development, sports performance. This operation and this day is truly a team effort. Our international leadership, Louis Silverio, Adrian Puig, Ruddy Moreta, Matt Grabowski, Max Hanley, Devon Wright, they do a tremendous job day in and day out to make all of this possible. Just want to say thank you to everybody on our staff. They relentlessly pursue talent each and every day and they're the reason we're here."

On the difference between putting together his first and second international class...

Keller: "We spent a lot of time assembling this new staff and that poured over into this year, but we really tried to identify talented individuals and then educate them on the organization's values and systems and put them into the best possible position to be successful at what they're good at, which is identifying talented players, assigning value to those players and making sure that we have the opportunity to see them and make good decisions on them."

On the White Sox new baseball academy in the Dominican Republic being part of the pitch to free agents...

Keller: "Yes it does. Obviously we have what we feel like will be a state of the art facility coming in 2027 and certainly when we talk to players and families, their representatives, we are talking about the new facility and the training advantages that we hope it provides."

On the first wave of signings...

Keller: "We're excited about all of these guys. We had the opportunity to introduce 18 young men, nine pitchers, nine position players spanning four different countries. The headlines are going to go to the higher bonus dollar players, but we're equally excited about guys who maybe didn't receive quite as much money. We think they have a chance with our player development group to blossom and grow and provide value to the White Sox."

On Fernando Graterol and Sebastian Romero...

Keller: "Fernando Graterol is interesting. He's 17 years old, he's got a good body. He's a catcher by trade, but he's more athletic than most catchers. We're talking about a guy who runs a 6.8 60 (yard dash). He's got plus bat speed, raw power is –– I would say, especially for the position –– is at the top of the class. We feel like he's one of the best catchers in the 2026 international crop."

"As for Romero, we're excited about him as well. He's a very fluid athlete. Another guy who has a good body, has a chance to defend the position, a premium position in center field, and consistently puts together good at-bats, makes contact and we're very excited to have him."

On Roderick Ramírez...

Keller: "I think there’s a significant amount of development remaining for all of our pitchers. As it pertains to Roderick, Roderick’s got a 6-3 frame. He might still grow a little bit. The 200 pounds is carried very well on his frame, it’s lean muscle mass. He’s an athlete. He moves very well on the mound. Our group has seen him up to 94 already. He’s got a solid slider, he’s developing the changeup. He’s got all the starter attributes and characteristics that we look for."

"And so it’s a nice blend of someone who is ready to go in and be competitive now in the Dominican Summer League but also has the ability to continue to grow in his body, develop experience on the mound. Pitching in competitive situations is something that a lot of these young men are going to experience for the first time, where they have to navigate a lineup a couple of different times. Really looking forward to watching him embrace that challenge and I think the sky’s the limit for Roderick. Very excited that he’s a part of our class and to watch him play this year."

On the situation in Venezuela having any affect on signing players...

Keller: "Yeah, I think that’s a fair question. Obviously, there are major hotbeds in the international market and Venezuela happens to be one of them. Good players come from everywhere, but there are a lot of good players that come from Venezuela. And so long before this day, we put a plan in motion to have the Venezuelan players and their families join us in the Dominican Republic. I mentioned earlier that we’re a team-focused group and there is no better way to demonstrate that than to bring everybody together. And what I can tell you is that everything went according to plan and we feel fortunate that that happened."

On what stands out among the nine pitcher signings...

Keller: "I mentioned the physicality of Roderick, I think we have a group generally speaking that they’re tall, they’re long, they have the physical attributes that we look for. The majority of them are athletic and they move well with their deliveries. And then they have stuff. I think for the first time that I can remember, we’re signing a group where the majority of them have already touched 90 miles an hour and there is still room to grow with each and every one of them."

"The pitching group, I said it last year, it’s true this year, the pitching group has a chance to be a real strength of this class for us. We put together a very thorough process that incorporated a lot of things and allowed us to make really good decisions and I’m excited to see the group as a whole move forward. It’s not just Roderick Ramírez or Franchel Crisóstomo or Yordany Marté. They all bring something unique to the table and they all have traits that we think can be developed into valuable members of our organization."

On how the new staff he works with has grown in the last year and a half...

Keller: "That was a big part of what we wanted to institute when I came onboard. With our leadership group, I talk a lot about my role in all of this. For me, it’s about being the culture builder and being a guardian of the process so we are making good decisions."

"We spend a lot of time with our group talking about the organizational values and really putting systems in place so guys understand what it is we are looking, what we’re trying to identify and ultimately what we’re trying to develop and grow. And I couldn’t be happier with the progress that our group has made in that time."

On having more avenues to collect data during this process...

Keller: "Obviously we’re trying to use all the information at our disposal. There’s this interesting cross section of people and technology that comes together when it’s time to make decisions and so we can use it as a crutch and use it as a confirmation bias, or we can use it to help identify players, or we can use it as both as a way to support certain decisions."

"Over time, at least over this past year, we’ve been able to really utilize the data and the information, not only to identify certain traits - specifically with pitchers - but also use it to confirm what our eyes are telling us. Whether it’s Blast Motion or exit velocity on Trackman, it really enables to support, OK Stiwarts Valdez, who signed with us today, man he really has power. Well that’s backed up with exit velocities that are topping 109 miles an hour for a 16-year-old. Those sorts of things help us make decisions and also feel comfortable with those decisions."

On Stiwarts Valdez...

Keller: "He’s someone who popped up later in the process. He’s someone who,every time that I have had the opportunity to watch him play in games or face live at-bats, he’s hit a home run. So I think that means that I need to attend close to 20 DSL games this year and making sure that he’s in the lineup. But he’s really athletic."

"To watch him run, he’s running a 6.5 in the 60. He’s throwing plus from the outfield, he can do a lot of different things. Then you ask him to go over to first base because he’s such a large target and he’s doing splits and scooping balls. I don’t want to oversell Stiwarts here, place undue expectations on him, but I'm very excited about Stiwarts."

On the story behind signing Ander Guzman, the only player from Mexico...

Keller: "Yeah, Ander Guzman, I’m glad you brought that up. You’ve heard me say this previously, but good players come from everywhere. It’s our job to identify them. Our scout who lives in Panama was able to see him play in a showcase. He brought him to our attention."

"We made a concerted effort to get data on him. Ultimately, when we saw him we liked what we saw. He’s a little bit taller, but talented nonetheless. 2017 was the last time that we signed a Mexican-born player. This allows us to raise our profile in places where talented players are coming from and Mexico is one of those places. "

On an under-the-radar prospect he's excited about...

Keller: "You’re asking me to differentiate between my children. I love them all. I’m excited for them all. I’m excited about the opportunity that they have in front of them. I talked about Stiwarts. I was effusive in my praise of Stiwarts. I'll pick a position player and a pitcher."

"The position player that I think is a sleeper in this class is Felix LeBron. Felix is a very, very good athlete. He’s a plus athlete. He’s running a 6.6 60. He’s got bat speed that’s 78 mph. This is a guy, when we talk about the principles of scouting, body, dimension, agility, tools. And then last but certainly not least, most importantly is the makeup. This guy loves to play. He’s a competitor. I’m really excited to watch him take on this new challenge."

"On the pitching side, man, I like a lot of these guys. I think Yordany Marte is a 16 year old, he’s got an unbelievable personality. He’s grown since I last saw him. He probably checked in today around 6-1. He’s very athletic. And not dissimilar from some other guys. He can really spin a breaking ball. His velocity is up to 92, but his ability to spin a breaking ball, repeat his mechanics and throw strikes with them, they have me excited and I’m going to pick one more."

"Jefferson Timaure, a Venezuelan arm, who facially looks a little bit like Carlos Carrasco has a very similar attack. East-West profile, where he can sink it and slide it. Still maturing, still growing into his body and has some good weight to add, which can only improve his velocity and overall ability."