Dodgers News: 2026 International Signing Period Opens Thursday, Jan. 15th
The annual MLB international signing period opens this upcoming Thursday
LOS ANGELES, CA—With the calendar changing to the New Year and spring training less than two months away, the start of the annual International Signing Period is also set to begin in the coming days.
This year, the 2026 signing period runs from Thursday, January 15th, through mid-December.
All players from outside Canada, Puerto Rico, and the US who are 16 years old before signing and turn 17 before the next September are eligible. They must also be registered to participate.
The risk of the international signing process is that some players commit early to their signing teams, sometimes several years in advance. However, they cannot finalize these agreements until they become eligible and the designated signing period for that year begins.
All thirty Major League Baseball teams will receive an international pool of funds, with the league informing them of the specific amounts in the spring of the previous year.
If a team signs a free agent who received a qualifying offer after the previous season, their pool decreases by $500,000. Teams that go over the Competitive Balance Tax threshold lose $1 million from their pool when signing a free agent who rejected their qualifying offer.
For the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, their international pool money is listed at $6,679,200, which is in the lower half of MLB teams but not in the lowest tier of bonus pools. Three teams have a bonus pool of $5.94 million, and four more have $5.44 million to spend.
On Monday, Ben Badler of Baseball America unveiled the top 50 international prospects and their expected signing locations. The lone projected Dodgers signee among the group is Rubel Arias, a 17-year-old outfielder out of the Dominican Republic.
As always, the Dodgers are very active in the amateur international market, but used most of their pool money last offseason on Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki.
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