New league forming in the Dominican
ByThe amateur draft draws lots of headlines and we all know the Yankees don’t have a problem paying top dollar for talent, but for years their international scouting crew has brought in top notch prospects that continue to be among the best in the farm system. Until now, teams only were able to scout Latin American amateurs in workouts – bullpen sessions, batting practice, etc. – and not game situations, but as Jorge Arangure Jr. notes, big league scouts will soon have a new league to follow.
In what it is unofficially being called the Dominican Prospect League, teams made up of young players available on the international market will play once a week at various MLB club owned and operated complexes. Stats will be kept, and of course, profit will be made. Several big league clubs are backing the league, and Yanks’ farm director Mark Newman is on the league’s advisory board.
Before dropping $3M+ on a kid like Gary Sanchez, the Yanks will now have a chance to watch how he handles an actual live game. Sounds simple, but teams were not able to do this before. Frankly, it’s is long overdue, but better late than never.
This is fucking tits.
The level of competition should be much higher, as well.
That’s good, the dominican definitely needs to make strides like this for their young talent.
About time, they are paying these kids too much money and with me having serious doubts about the international market being included in the amateur draft anytime soon, this is a good step in the right direction.
I think that having foreign players subject to the draft is a good thing, because it evens out the talent pool, and forces teams to scout better, and find and sign the guys who really want to be part of the organizatio, instead of looking for dollars alone (Like Mitchell and Stoneburner from last year’s draft). In addition, you will see more American players in MLB (We need the game to grow in the inner cities). It works well in the NHL (Although you are seeing a decline in Russian players due to the KHL, and the transfer fee issue (Although the really elite players, like Malkin will still come over))
As a Yankee fan I rather keep the same system because it favors the Yankees in their ability to sign talent.
Is it really going to have an affect on the top guys? If you have a 16 year old throwing 95, are you not going to sign him, or try to save a few 100k, because of his ’stats’?
I would think this really benefits the non-toolsy guys who wouldn’t have gotten the scouts’ eyes otherwise, but are nevertheless able to perform.
Yeah that’s how I look at it too.
Unfortunately, I don’t have Insider, but I’m liking this idea from what I’ve read.
I trust these will be included in the nightly Dot-Fs? *crosses fingers*
This will be good. I also think that it will be harder thou to find gems since most of the players will be playing in the league.
The Yankees’ resource advantages should still give them the upper hand in terms of signings, but gotta love that this will make talent evaluation a little easier for every team. And maybe most importantly, it’ll be good for the Dominican kids.
This could be good for the next Junot Diaz novel.