Search the Community

"I didn't know a guy could slide under Pedroia. He's short...." After the world's tallest hobbit missed a tag on Wieters.

Okay, I try not to throw around hyperbole, as it is seldom useful in kick-starting interesting and fun baseball discussion. But after reading Jorge Arangure Jr.'s most recent blog on the newly-formed Dominican Prospect League, I found myself kicking my desk here at the office. Link for insiders at ESPN -- http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=arangure_jorge_jr To catch everyone up, the league was formed by three agents (Mejia, Cabrera and Morales) and was designed to provide a place were the top Dominican prospects could showcase their talent in game situations. The hope is that teams will get better looks at the top prospects and be able to more accurately assess their talents. Sounds great, right? I certainly think so. NOTE -- it's a new league and it still remains to be seen whether it will ultimately attract the best players, but at minimum it's a very big step in the right direction. The first year has gone really well. Tony Arias, Reds Scouting Director stated: Perfect. Not only does it allow organizations to see these kids in game situations, it allows teams without a huge presence at minimum to see a group of very talented kids from the area competing regularly. I immediately thought of the trips I have been taking to the US Showcases. I don't see enough myself to be an arbitor of all the talent in the US, but by attending four or five selected showcases, I can see a lot of the top HS kids and get a good idea of how they stack up. Then I ran into this later in the article: What??? Someone actually does the legwork of setting up a central location for you to come watch a bunch of good young Dominican players and you are noticeably absent? How can you not send at least one scout regularly -- regardless of if they are specifically designated as Latin American Scout? You don't have to interact with buscons and establish relationships. You just have to sit in the stands and watch baseball!!!!! That's all. Had to vent. Sometimes the ineptitude is too much for me.... Oh, and for the kicker, the Yankees grab some great PR in the DR (same article) and Big Papi does the same: