As announced a couple of weeks ago, the 18-year-old German right-handed pitcher Daniel Thieben officially signed a seven-year minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in Regensburg. Vice President Bob Engle personally came to the city of the reigning German champion to put the final ink under the contract and to attend the press conference.
Thieben will continue working out at the baseball academy in Regensburg alongside of Max Kepler-Rozycki and later probably also with Donald Lutz throughout the winter before joining the Mariners minor league spring training in Arizona next spring.
Engle confirmed during the press conference that they were scouting Thieben since a couple of years and that he made a step forward in his development after his transfer from the Dohren Wild Farmers to the Buchbinder Legionaere last winter.
Thieben is the 43rd current European player under contract with a Major League organization. He is also the seventh player overall from the baseball academy in Regensburg to sign in the United States. MLB International is awarding this success by financing a second full time coach besides Martin Brunner with Stefan Mueller.
Photo by Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg