Tzu-Wei Lin isn't the only international signing that the Red Sox have made this summer, as, according to Baseball America's Ben Badler, they have also inked Dominican pitcher Jose Almonte for a $610,000 signing bonus.
Almonte is just 16 years old and a right-hander. He's been seen touching 90-91 miles per hour with his fastball, but, again according to Baseball America, has mostly been seen topping out at 89. He's all of 16, though, so there's reason to believe he'll throw harder as he ages; by the same token, his secondary stuff is unsurprisingly raw, and needs work. Just because he's 16 doesn't mean he's small, though, as he's already 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds.
The Red Sox have been linked to Almonte for some time now, and Baseball America rated him the #17 international prospect available as of Monday morning. Unlike Lin, who was signed for $2.05 million in late June, Almonte will count against Boston's $2.9 million allotted international bonus budget -- as of July 2, international signings for 2012-2013 are restricted to a specified budget, much like the 2012 draft was the first with imposed limits and penalties for overspending.