Are latin players running away in pro ball?

@Dominik85 posted:

Lots of young stars and prospects in mlb and quite a few of them are not american born.

Obviously latin players influence has grown a lot the last 30 years but still the majority was American born. Still more mlb players are american born than internationally born but there current wave of young stars and super prospects seems to be to a large degree latin (soto, acuna, tatis, vlad jr, franco).

There are quite a few good younger American players too but they tend to be a bit older as they went through college.

Seems like the latin players have an advantage there.

Most Latin players don't have other employment options that can feed their family. 

It seems to be moving in that direction.  Baseball may look a lot like soccer in the future, a game most American kids play but rarely succeed at the professional level.

Dominican players top the list behind USA players.  Plus, the advent of "academies" in the DR.

From Wikipedia:

"Baseball academies are how Major League Baseball recruiters develop the talent they find across all Latin America. Every single one of the teams in the MLB has a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic.^[7] With four out of every ten Dominicans living in poverty, baseball has become a small beacon of hope for many Dominican families. The baseball academies in the Dominican Republic offer many young boys what may be their and their family's only chance of overcoming poverty, and as a result many boys as young as age 13 drop out of school to focus all of their attention on baseball and someday playing for the MLB.^[8] However, it is estimated that only two percent of Dominican recruits are actually able to make a living playing in MLB, leaving many of these young recruits finding themselves aged 19–21 with no education, no work skills, and no job prospects. Because of this, many baseball academies in the country have made efforts to incorporate educational programs that teach English and financial skills to their recruits, to better prepare them for the future.^[9]"

@TPM posted:

Most Latin players don't have other employment options that can feed their family. 

There's something to this, coupled with Keewart's post above. Some of the signing bonuses of the international players are a great deal more now than they were a few years ago. 

One of my son's college teammates who was drafted by MLB a few years back observed the employment/education options first hand. A few of the Latin players asked him, "Why are you here?" (as teammate had other options from his 4-year degree).  So far, my son hasn't really seen this. Perhaps it helps to be bilingual.

Caribbean players will be far better off as a whole when they figure out if they can get to an American college to play baseball they will have multiple options. It means they have to be better educated and learn a English rather than rolling the dice and praying they come up 7 on the first roll. 

Unfortunately there are still too many blacks in American inner cities who think college football and basketball is the avenue to a pro contract and don’t do the work to make a degree/education a second option. 

@RJM posted:

Caribbean players will be far better off as a whole when they figure out if they can get to an American college to play baseball they will have multiple options. It means they have to be better educated and learn a English rather than rolling the dice and praying they come up 7 on the first roll. 

 

My favorite player 2nd base, at FAU was from DR.  His family was educated, so when he was 16, his father said no way, you are going to college. He went to Chipola JUCO, won 2 national championships. He did not get drafted as a junior but signed as FA this fall.  I think he was ranked 2b going into season this year by D1. He did what his dad asked, go to college, then you can go pro.  We are going to miss him.

The reality for the players in the Dominican Republic who make it to the Baseball Academies as teenagers but don’t get signed is brutal.  Lots of steroids, not much education other than Baseball, and then thrown out like yesterday’s trash.  It’s one of the ugliest sides of Baseball.

I’ve noticed a handful of new (at least I think they are new) base all academies in FL. A mom on my sons fall team was telling me about it today. They do 2 hours of virtual school a day and practice baseball from 9:30-4:00. Have academies like this been around a long time? 

You all have heard me talk about the scout the kid fell in with. He is now the Director of Scouting for an MLB team. He puts on a fall baseball league and works kids out over the winter. He's addressed this and told the kids, you are all being passed up. You are seen as soft and the kids down south are seen as harden. You spend your time playing video games and surfing on your phone, they spend their time trying to survive. If talent being equal we'll pick the player from south of the border every time.

@RJM posted:

Caribbean players will be far better off as a whole when they figure out if they can get to an American college to play baseball they will have multiple options. It means they have to be better educated and learn a English rather than rolling the dice and praying they come up 7 on the first roll. 

Unfortunately there are still too many blacks in American inner cities who think college football and basketball is the avenue to a pro contract and don’t do the work to make a degree/education a second option. 

 

Isn't that also due to those trainers in the DR who are basically like pimps and train those kids to sell them at 16? I guess they are not interested in their players getting to college because that way they can't make money.

For that trainer it is a numbers game, he trains 10 kids hopes one becomes a star and doesn't care about the other 9

Future Value goes into a good bit of detail on the DR system. Worth reading if you want to have a solid understanding of the system.