40 JULY 2019 • BASEBALLAMERICA.COM
ed enforcing rules preventing clubs from cut-
ting early deals.
“When I started doing this, I got the players
at 14 years old,” said another trainer, who said
he is against a draft. “So I worked with those
guys for a year, a year and a half, and I made
a deal. Now there are so many agents around,
so we started to get the players at 12 years old.
Right now, I have a program with kids between
8 and 10 years old.
“So we start working with those guys at 8
years old. When they’re 12 or 13, the organiza-
tions start going crazy for those guys. That’s
why we’re closing the players so early. You get
them in the program, improve their nutrition,
their habits. I have two players for 2022, they
are facing pitchers for 2017, 2018, throwing
88-92 (mph) and they can hit the ball—hard.
That’s crazy. That didn’t happen 10 years ago.”
A 12-year-old hitting against a 17-year-old
is like a Little Leaguer facing a high school var-
sity pitcher. And it’s not uncommon. It’s hard
for scouts not to get excited when they’re at a
showcase with 2019 to 2021
players and the 2021s are the
most talented ones on the
field. But if the margin for
error is already high on pro-
jecting players who are 16, it’s
even bigger when teams are
making decisions on kids two
or three years younger.
“One of my players is
5-foot-9,” said the first
trainer. “They told me, ‘I have
questions about his body.’
At 14, you start your growth
spurt. I’m like, ‘Do you
understand you’re looking at
this the same way you looked
at Eloy Jimenez?’ And you
expect them to do the same
thing—except they’re 14, 13
years old and now 12.”
COMPETITIVE FRENZY
INTERNATIONAL SCOUTING ATTRACTS SOME
OF THE GAME’S BEST SCOUTS AND MOST
FIERCELY INTENSE COMPETITORS. In the draft,
everyone knows who the top picks will be in a
given class. On draft day, you wait your turn,
pick your player, then wait until it’s your turn
to pick another player. If you pick 17th overall
in a draft, there are 16 players you don’t have
access to sign.
Internationally, even with a hard cap, there’s
free agency, so every team has access to every
player, and they can sign or agree to sign a
player 365 days a year. There are big scouting
events and showcases, but there’s less con-
sensus on the top players relative to the United
States, and teams that get in early and build
history on a player can beat other teams to a
signing.
“We’re in an aggressive market with a lot of
competition, so people want to keep stretching
to get the next guy,” said another internation-
al director. “The value of prospects has never
been higher, and if you’re able to get the guy
young, then you’re the man. You’ve got the
next great thing and you beat everyone to him.”
Yet in conversations over the past year,
scouts who had once been vociferously against
a draft are now more receptive to the idea.
“I would have no problem with a draft,” the
second director said. “I’d welcome a slowdown,
to take some of the heat off the kids, let these
kids grow. I wouldn’t mind doing it next year
even. I have kids committed for next year—a
good class, too. It wouldn’t bother me.”
“I never was for the draft,” said a third inter-
national director. “As a scout, it just helps lazy
people. But the way it’s going now, it’s kind
of a disaster. Whatever they
come up with, I’m good. The
way our lives work right now,
we’re not capable of keeping
this up. You’re looking at 16,
15, 14, 13—you’re looking at
four years’ worth of players.
It’s tough. There’s never a
break. Everyone’s running.
“All we’re doing is trying to
keep up with the other teams
because it’s an open market.
You have to know the players.
And we’re all making mis-
takes. All of us. I think I’m
a decent scout. When I see a
16-year-old kid for six, seven
months, I think I’m pretty
good at picking out a guy. I
can’t do that with a 13-year-
old.”
Nearly every scout has
repeated some version of the
same story. They say they don’t like what’s
happening now. We shouldn’t be making
signing decisions on kids who are 13 and 14.
And we’re doing it, too, because MLB is qui-
etly giving us the thumbs up to do it, and if
we don’t, we’re going to fall behind, our GM
and owner are going to be mad, and I’ll get
fired.
“I’m all in for the draft,” said a fourth inter-
national director. “I wasn’t in favor before,
because if you have contacts and abilities, you
can beat other teams in the D.R. I thought if
you go to a draft, it takes that skill set away.But now, it’s stupid. We’re gambling millions of
dollars on kids.”NEW VOICES
OVER THE PAST YEAR, THE COMMISSIONER’S
OFFICE HAS RESHAPED ITS PERSONNEL AND
EFFORTS IN LATIN AMERICA. While MLB found
itself publicly clashing with trainers in the past,
the reality is that club personnel who worked in
Latin America were just as fed up with the com-
missioner’s office.
That has changed dramatically in the past
year. Several international scouts have said that
the commissioner’s office has bounced ideas off
them, listened to their input and implemented
policy changes based on those conversations.
Through the league’s Trainer Partnership
Program, trainers in the program have general-
ly seemed pleased with MLB.
But on the issue of early signings, there’s still
displeasure with the status quo. MLB’s solu-
tion is an international draft. That might come
before the next CBA after the 2021 season, but
a draft would have to be collectively bargained
with the MLB Players’ Association. On one side
of the bargaining table are the MLB owners,
whose want to keep labor costs down. On the
other side is the MLBPA, which fights for its
union members, i.e. players on 40-man rosters.
Amateur players—both foreign and domes-
tic—don’t have a seat at the table, so their
rights get negotiated away as a bargaining chip.
“I haven’t been invited to talk with the
Players’ Association,” said a third trainer. “I
have been from MLB. Who’s the one who’s
listening to me right now? It’s MLB. But the
Players’ Association doesn’t care about us.
They don’t care about minor league players.
You think they’re going to care about Latin
American players?
“The last (MLB) administration, it was a joke.
In all fairness, this group, from day one, theyCONTINUED FROM PAGE 39
Led by commissioner
Rob Manfred, Major
League Baseball
has increased its
attention on the
international
amateur market.
The commissioner’s
office has even
exchanged ideas
with trainers in Latin
America to discuss
policy change, which
includes a potential
international draft.“I think I’m a decent scout.
When I see a 16-year-old
kid, I think I’m pretty good at
picking out a guy. I can’t do
that with a 13-year-old.”
—AN INTERNATIONAL
SCOUTING DIRECTOR“I was so depressed this
week. I went to my field
and I’m looking at 10- and
11-year-olds. It’s like going
to Little League tryouts.”
—A LATIN AMERICAN TRAINER“I wasn’t in favor of a draft
before, but now we’re
gambling millions of dollars
on kids.”
—AN INTERNATIONAL
SCOUTING DIRECTORINSIDE