The French Elite League club Montigny Cougars announced on their website the signing of the 16-year-old catcher Giordano Makholm. He is coming from the Nationale 1 champion Marlins de Compiègne, where he also caught Andre Steinberg (9-0, ERA 0.49, 57 IP, 100 SO, 15 BB), the best pitcher in this league last season. Makholm batted .302 (OBP .436/SLG .302) with twelve runs scored and eight RBI in 17 games. Defensive-wise he still needs to work on a few things since he threw out only one runner in 22 stolen base attempts and notched up 16 passed balls.