Prospect with fun Jackson Chourio link headlines Brewers' international signing class

The international free agency period opened on Wednesday with a bang as the Milwaukee Brewers locked down their top targets with seven figure signing bonuses, including a big target from Jackson Chourio's hometown, Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Three players signed for one million dollars or more on Wednesday, outfielders Kenny Fenelon and Brailyn Antunez, and shortstop Christopher Acosta. While all three are exciting prospects in different ways, Brailyn Antunez is one that stands out.

Top Venezuelan prospect Brailyn Antunez signs with Brewers

While there may be a handful of other Venezuelan players who signed for larger bonuses, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America, scouts believe new Brewers outfielder Brailyn Antunez is the best of the bunch. Signing bonuses are largely reflective of how good teams think a player is, but a lot of these bonuses are agreed to years in advance and recent development may not reflect just how good a player currently is. Antunez signed for $1 million.

Antunez hails from Maracaibo, Venezuela, the same hometown of current Brewers superstar Jackson Chourio. Scouting that city worked well for the Brewers before, and they go back to that well and just might have struck gold once more.

Antunez projects as a potential five-tool centerfielder if everything comes together, just as Chourio did. Scouting reports indicate Antunez has a mix of both contact ability and power along with double-plus speed on the bases. His approach at the plate is advanced and he has the potential for 25-plus home runs a year.

Defensively, Antunez has a strong throwing arm and while he still has some work to do on playing the outfield and taking routes to fly balls, he has the speed to be elite at that position and the routes can improve with development as he gets into the minor league system.

Antunez has arguably the most upside of this group the Brewers have signed this year, even though he didn't get the largest signing bonus. That honor went to Dominican Republic outfielder Kenny Fenelon who signed for $1.3 million.

Fenelon is a power hitter with excellent bat speed but a different profile than the Brewers have usually targeted in the international ranks. The Brewers typically focus on contact-oriented hitters with the chance to add some strength and develop power but Fenelon already has present power and need to develop the contract ability. That makes the risk higher with Fenelon, but also means a potentially very high reward.

Brewers announce entire IFA class of 29 players

Overall 16 players were signed from Venezuela, 10 players from the Dominican Republic, and then one player each from Nicaragua, Mexico, and Colombia.

“We celebrate the efforts of many today in signing our newest class of Brewers,” said director of international scouting James Armstrong. “Each of these players has distinguished themselves not only for their baseball talent but also for their work ethic and devotion to their own development. I would also like to praise our scouting staff. Many years of hard work led to today, relentlessly covering and scouting an expansive player pool, ultimately leading to the identification of these 29 players.”

The Brewers have been one of the top organizations when it comes to signing international talent. Jackson Chourio is the biggest success, Jesus Made last year is looking like he could follow in those footsteps, and now the Brewers are hoping that one of the players from this year's class can be next. Antunez and Fenelon seem to be the best bets from this class.

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