Peña, 17-year-old Dominican shortstop, signs with Mets for $5 million bonus

Elian Peña, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic who turned 17 in October, agreed to a $5 million bonus with the New York Mets on Wednesday that was the largest amount on the first day of the 2025 international signing period.

Peña was rated the No. 3 prospect in the international class for this year by MLB.com behind Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, who must agree to a deal by Jan. 23, and Dominican shortstop Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez, who agreed with the San Francisco Giants at $2,997,500.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, all hoping to sign Sasaki, did not finalize any contracts with bonuses of more than $10,000, which count against their signing bonus pools. Just half of the 30 teams finalized deals of more than $10,000 in the opening hours of the signing period.

“It just created uncertainty for teams and certainly created uncertainty for some players,” Detroit Tigers assistant general manager Rob Metzler said. “Certainly the 2025 signing period has had more uncertainty than others.”

Dominican outfielder Cris Rodriguez, ranked fourth, signed with Detroit for $3,197,500, and Andrew Salas, a shortstop and outfielder ranked fifth, signed with Miami for $3.7 million. Salas was born in the U.S. and moved to Venezuela.