Eduardo Herrera quickly made an impression on Marco Paddy, the special assistant to the general manager, international operations, for the Chicago White Sox.

“When I saw him for the first time his strength, the way he played the game, his ability to compete, how polished he was as a hitter, I couldn’t help but to be attracted by this kid’s ability,” Paddy said during a video conference call.

The Sox have agreed to terms with the third baseman, one of four international signings announced Wednesday.

Herrera, 17, is the No. 11 international prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His deal includes a $1,800,000 signing bonus. The native of San Felipe, Venezuela, played for the Venezuelan U18 National Team at the age of 15.

“From a makeup standpoint, he’s a very good competitor, he knows to work on his body, spends a lot of time working on his body, strength and physical conditioning and things of that nature,” Paddy said. “As a competitor, we had opportunities to see him play for the Venezuelan national team. He played in a tournament in Mexico against good competition and he did extremely well as a 15-year-old playing with 18-year-old kids.

“Once we got all the information together and the evaluations, the looks, the at-bats, the time on the ground with him and knowing him as a person, we decided to move forward and we’re happy to have this young man become part of the Chicago White Sox organization.”

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Herrera bats and throws right-handed.

“We did not hesitate to go after him aggressively when it came to having the opportunity to sign him,” Paddy said. “In comparison to other guys we’ve signed in the past, most of the times when you get a guy that’s a power guy, you always question his full ability as a hitter. But in the case of this young man, he’s shown the ability to recognize (and) adjust. So we had no doubt about his ability as a hitter.”

The Sox also signed infielders Jurdrick Profar ($600,000) and Jesús Premoli ($550,000) and right-handed pitcher Jeziel Boekhoudt ($55,000).

The 6-foot-0, 190-pound Profar, 16, is the brother of longtime major leaguer Jurickson Profar — who spent 2023 with the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres. A native of Willemstad, Curaçao, Jurdrick Profar throws and bats right-handed.

“You look at Profar and he doesn’t profile like his brother,” Paddy said. “He’s going to be a bigger, stronger kid and actually reminds me of Jonathan Schoop. That type of kid. He can play all over the infield. Profar has excellent hands and feet to play shortstop.

“He’s going to get bigger, stronger and shortstop might not be a fit. He plays second base extremely well. He has the ability to play third base, too.”

A left-handed hitting former catcher, Premoli now plays third and first base. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound 17-year-old is a native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Boekhoudt, 17, is 6-foot-4, 215 pounds and also a native of Willemstad, Curaçao.

Expect more international signings to be announced in the coming weeks.

“Jan. 15 is the first day they can sign but this is a process that may take a couple months,” Paddy said. “Once we sign those kids we know the job is complete but yes, the intent is to sign more guys that we have already pretty much agreed on.”

()

The Gophers entered the deciding game of their best-of-three WCHA quarterfinal series against Minnesota State Mankato on Sunday at Ridder Arena knowing they had to win to be a part of the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend at Ridder.

Head coach Brad Frost figured that was all the motivation his team needed, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

“(The coaches) told us that someone else will get your locker room if you don’t win this game,” said Gophers junior center Ella Huber. “So it was like, ‘All right, yeah.’ That’s enough to fire you up.”

The Gophers played like a team on a mission, beating the Mavericks 3-0.

Despite holding a wide advantage in overall play, the Gophers led only 1-0 through the first 55 minutes before a pair of goals by Josefin Bouveng, including one into an empty net, sealed the win.

“I was just confident in how we were playing,” Frost said when asked about any nervous moments he had behind the bench. “If they’re hemming us in and repeatedly getting scoring chances, then you get a little nervous. Our team played the right way.”

So, the third-seeded Gophers survive a scare from No. 6 Mankato, dropping the first game with a poor performance in a 5-4 loss before bouncing back in impressive fashion by outscoring the Mavericks 10-1 in the final two games.

Ohio State, the top seed, will play No. 4 Minnesota Duluth at 1 p.m. Friday followed by No. 2 Wisconsin vs. Gophers. Saturday’s winner receives an automatic bid to the 11-team NCAA Tournament field.

When Huber scored at 2:33 of the first period it appeared the Gophers were picking up where they left off after scoring five in the first period on Saturday. But the Mavericks managed to keep things close.

“I knew it would be a little bit harder of a fight tonight with being it their last game if they didn’t win,” Huber said. “They put up a good fight.”

The goal was Huber’s fifth of the series, giving her 16 on the season.

“I like playing Mankato for some reason,” she said with a smile. “They just fire me up. It was a good weekend. Our line played really well together.”

Bouveng, Huber’s left winger, added an assist to go with her two goals following a two-goal, three-assist performance in Game 2. And she did it while playing at less than 100 percent after getting banged up late in the game Saturday.

Both coach and player were reluctant to say much about the situation for competitive reasons.

“There’s a lot of players that are less than 100 percent at this time of year,” Frost said. “They gut it out because they want to.”

Offered Bouveng: “I played a full game and we won.”

The Gophers outshot the Mavericks 36-11, with Lucy Morgan getting the shutout in her second consecutive start. Despite Mankato’s low shot total, it did have some good scoring chances. One of Morgan’s best saves came at 13:36 of the third period when she got an arm on a shot by Alexis Paddington from the slot.

Just over a minute later, Bouveng scored off a scramble in front.

“Luckily I was able to see it cleanly,” Morgan said. “Usually, when there’s a point-blank shot someone is trying to step in front of it.”

Frost has alternated Morgan and Skylar Vetter in goal all season but elected to come back with Morgan after a strong performance on Saturday.

“I got a call (from Frost) around 7:30 (Saturday night),” Morgan said. “I was at dinner, so I didn’t want to seem overly excited. I kept it very businesslike. But the whole rest of the dinner I was, like, shaking.

“I ate my food really fast because I was so excited.”

Frost said nothing has been decided regarding who will get the start on Friday.

Disaster averted, the Gophers secured their position among the best teams in the WCHA and in the country.

“Maybe we weren’t fully ready the first game,” Bouveng said. “But now it’s only going to be better opponents coming ahead, so I think this was great preparation for that.”

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The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is warning of a dangerous spring for wildfires.

The agency said the wildfire season is starting earlier. A lack of snow and warmer temperatures have already helped produce a number of fires across the state.

“We’re more or less four to six weeks ahead of schedule for what I would call the start of our spring fire season, and we’re already there,” said Travis Verdegan, the Minnesota DNR predictive services coordinator.

As of Friday, March 1, Verdegan said there have been 58 wildfires over the past two weeks across Minnesota.

While snow from the recent blizzard in the area has made for a minor improvement in the short term, dry conditions dating back to summer are signaling the increasing trend of wildfires will continue statewide.

“To have the level of activity that we’ve seen already, and to start that early is abnormal,” Verdegan said.

The National Interagency Fire Center is predicting above normal wildland fire risk for Minnesota for March, April and May, due to drier than normal conditions and above normal temperatures forecast. (National Interagency Coordination Center)

Caution needed

Patrick Waletzko, the emergency manager for Otter Tail County, said the current conditions mean people need to be extra careful when enjoying the warmer weather.

“Be very cautious when you’re looking at the materials, equipment that you’re using. Can they generate a spark? Certainly we encourage people not to be burning at this point in time,” Waletzko said.

Another way to help with prevention is to take a look at any recent burnings.

“Double-check any burn piles that were burnt over the winter. They may have been burnt with snow on, but those ashes can stay hot. We have documented cases where we have fires that have come from piles that were burnt months before,” Verdegan said.

Waletzko said Otter Tail County will be increasing its messaging regarding wildfire safety. He said the most important tip is to make sure people are signed up for emergency notifications so they can be safe when wildfires happen.

“Whether it’s through your county-specific emergency notification system, national weather service tools, local media — just being in the know is our biggest piece,” Waletzko said.

A wildfire happened in the area as recently as Thursday, Feb. 29, in Rothsay. The fire chief told WDAY News the grass fire in a ditch along Interstate 94 was knocked down quickly, and they have yet to determine what started it.

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Contract negotiations between St. Paul Public Schools and the teachers union will continue Monday after the two sides failed to reach an agreement during nearly 40 hours of bargaining over the weekend, district officials say.

The district said in a news release Sunday that the bargaining teams “continued to make meaningful progress” with the help of a state mediator as a strike deadline looms on March 11.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, which represents the district’s 3,700 teachers and nonlicensed staffers, voted last month to authorize a strike with 92% support.

It’s the fourth consecutive two-year bargaining cycle in which St. Paul teachers have threatened to strike. The union went on strike for four days in 2020 and almost went on strike in 2018 and 2022.

While the union and the school district say there has been some progress in closed-door mediation sessions over the last month, they’re still working through major disagreements on pay and insurance.

Early union proposals included a $7,500 pay bump for all teachers and community service personnel in the district, as well as a 7.5% raise in the second year. They’re also asking for a $5.43-an-hour raise for educational assistants followed by a 7.5% raise in the second year.

Meanwhile, the district was offering a 2% raise in the first year, and a 3% increase for teachers at the lowest pay level.

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