The Baseball Draft and Puerto Rico

by John Sickels on May 6, 2025 7:07 PM EDT Comment 37 comments

Every year around draft day, someone brings up the idea of extending the draft to cover international players. The topic comes up during collective bargaining sessions, but never goes anywhere. One of the anti-international draft arguments is that extending the draft to Puerto Rico killed talent development on the island, which is not nearly as good now as it was back in the 1970s for example.

Now, personally, I am against the idea of further draft expansion beyond the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. I also don't think it will happen: many teams have expended a lot of money developing academies in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, for example, and I don't think those teams are going to be too happy about a draft system. Scouting and drafting players just in North America is complicated enough: adding another layer of complexity to the system just strikes me as unworkable. Certainly, the smarter smaller revenue teams are still doing good work signing and developing players on the international market. The Yankees can't sign everyone. I just don't think an international draft is needed, and I don't support one.

That said, I want to go back to the "draft killed baseball in Puerto Rico" idea. Certainly there is less talent coming off the island now, but WHY? Is it really because of the draft? If so, by what mechanism did the draft kill youth baseball in Puerto Rico? It certainly did not kill baseball in Canada, and indeed there are now more players coming out of the great north than before the draft. So why did this happen in the PR? Is this something that everyone just says and no one has really studied, or there is an actual factual basis for this claim? I don't have an answer, and I'd certainly like to have one.

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Not sure

I think the CW is that with the draft in place, money dried up with respect to giving young kids direct tutoring. Are there really any advanced amateur summer leagues for kids as there are here in the US?

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by crawdaddy on May 6, 2025 7:12 PM EDT reply actions

Which makes me wonder, if that's true, is there money to be made by private baseball acadamies in PR?

Could they act as an agency, or is that against the rules if the kids come in at 15, 16, 17 years old?

by SagehenMacGyver47 on May 6, 2025 7:36 PM EDT up reply actions

There was probably more money getting flushed in by MLB teams than there is by Puerto Rican parents who want their kids to get a better baseball education.

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by crawdaddy on May 6, 2025 8:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I mean outside, American companies that train players and take a fee, similar to an agent

if there’s millions of $ of talent sitting dormant in PR, then this “market”—that we’re so sure is doing things the right way unless there is a draft—should be capitalizing on it.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on May 7, 2025 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Just speculating, but...

Money.

Kids in Puerto Rico before the draft probably had a similar “make it big”/“best way to provide a life for my family” sentiment to other LA youths. Now that they have to go through the draft, they lose a lot of leverage and have to wait longer.

Kids in Canada, likely being wealthier, probably were attracted by the increased exposure the draft brought to the north.

In what St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called a "big day" for his club, starter Chris Carpenter took the mound for his first session of live batting practice and promptly buzzed the fuzz on catcher Jason LaRue’s chin with an errant fastball.

"Sorry," Carpenter called from the mound.

"Don’t say you’re sorry," LaRue barked back.

"He said it," pitching coach Dave Duncan said from the side of the cage, "but he didn’t mean it."
~ DG

by mateodh on May 6, 2025 7:22 PM EDT reply actions

dunno

I dunno….Puerto Rican kids seem to get lowballed on draft offers, but there is a lot of money still involved.

by John Sickels on May 6, 2025 7:23 PM EDT up reply actions

It's all about leverage.

Puerto Rican kids typically can’t qualify for NCAA schools due to the language barrier, and they also can’t afford baseball scholarships, because 99% of college players are not on a full ride for baseball (half-scholarships, etc.). Therefore, they can’t use any leverage to get higher bonuses after being drafted.

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by Andy Seiler on May 6, 2025 8:05 PM EDT up reply actions

language Barrier

Most Puerto Ricans on the island speak english pretty well. The only parts of the island where you’d find a lack off english would be the mountainous regions, which don’t typically have much in the way of sports anyways. Go to Puerto Rico, you’l be surprised how good the English is. About 90% of the kids I went to high-school with went to a US school….

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by Jgaztambide on May 6, 2025 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Jibaros

by wilriv21 on May 6, 2025 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't mean they can't speak English.

I mean that there is a definable difference between the standards for English there and on standardized tests and at American universities, especially those universities that would provide more leverage. Whether you believe it’s the language barrier or not, the majority of Puerto Rican baseball prospects fail to qualify academically in the NCAA.

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by Andy Seiler on May 6, 2025 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions

you got it

Puerto Rico is not a wealthy country, therefore they cannot expend lots of money or time on baseball, same thing would happen in DR, why would baseball academies pay to develop kids that they might not sign, they aren’t humanitarians.

by daman316 on May 6, 2025 7:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: you got it

Puerto Rico isnt’ a country, it’s a commonwealth and a territory of the US

Don’t make the mistake of assuming Puerto Rico is the same as the rest of the Latin American countries because of language and locale. It’s not well off, but it’s one of the more economically virbant centers in the region. Kids don’t have to go work on the farm or play baseball, it’s not that kind of decisions at all.

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by Jgaztambide on May 6, 2025 8:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Baseball is also not, from what I understand, scholastically oriented in PR so, without a more standard-type regular season such as exists in High schools in this country or in Canada, it’s tougher to evaluate the kids outside of the small pct who are in private academies and the like.

IOW, the draft is trying to find kids in an area that night be better served by the ‘turning over every rock in order to find the hidden gem’ method that currently serves the rest of the Caribbean.

by Frayed Knot on May 6, 2025 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Canada?

standard-type regular season such as exists in High schools in this country or in Canada

Don’t assume Canada has similar development system… ‘cause we don’t. We, up here, do not have a “standard-type” high school system, we used rep. teams to develop our athletes in almost every sport, in almost every region, baseball, soccer and hockey included.

High school sports, with the exception of football and basketball, tend to be second-class, in term of quality of play and players, and even in football and basketball a lot of any given players development will be aided if not directly caused by extra-scholastic coaching.

Like Rick Bosetti my goal in life is not to do well but to piss on things.

by mudie on May 7, 2025 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Things are never as simple as they seem...

But, with that in mind, it seems like the motivation of the kids could be tempered a bit by the fact that they must be drafted out of high school instead of being given millions at the age of 16.

Trying to see things from their perspective: Would I rather have to go to school, deal with agents (of whom, and I’m assuming here, are not of the quality of quantity of those in the States) and wait until I am 18 or don’t go to school, only speak with local buscones and get paid when I’m 16.

Two years must just seem like a long time to wait.

by speedchaser9 on May 6, 2025 7:49 PM EDT reply actions

I'm from Puerto Rico

Though I haven’t been there in a few years, what I’ve been told is that other sports have gotten more popular. Baseball was certainly popular when I was growing up in PR (left PR in the mid 90’s) but not noticeably more popular than Volleyball, Basketball, and swimming. In fact, I’d say basketball and swimming were MORE popular than baseball during my youth, based purely on the friends from school I knew who participated in sports and the sports we played after classes.

Soccer and American Football were also getting more coverage and growing in popularity over the years, though I think football was definitely more of a spectator thing than as something people played more often. Soccer, however, was actually played in the fields after school.

I’ve been to the Dominican Republic a few times, and each time I fly over I marvel at how many Baseball Diamonds litter the landscape. This just isn’t the case in Puerto Rico. Baseball is certainly loved, just not to the extent it is in the Dominican.

Keep in mind, I’m relatively young, so I could be describing the symptoms instead of the malady

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by Jgaztambide on May 6, 2025 8:12 PM EDT reply actions

Boricua?

by wilriv21 on May 6, 2025 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions

For sure!

Though a few years removed from living in Isla de Borinquen

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by Jgaztambide on May 6, 2025 8:17 PM EDT up reply actions

My Grandparents and mother are from the island. Rincon and Mayaguez. Father and I were born in NYC. Moved to LA in late 50s.

by wilriv21 on May 6, 2025 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Puerto Rico DOES have at least one Baseball Academy. It is run by former MLB player Edwin Correa. The academy has a long waiting list and also prioritizes academics. Many students attend college in US.

Basketball has become the #1 sport on La Isla Encanto. The NBA has an international draft.

by wilriv21 on May 6, 2025 8:13 PM EDT reply actions

Correa is out.

Happened just recently. Wasn’t happy about it, and he’s planning on starting a new academy of his own.

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by Andy Seiler on May 6, 2025 8:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Puerto Rico Baseball & High School Academy

Very expensive. Every year gets 2 or 3 players drafted and a few more going to NCAA college programs

by LCT on May 7, 2025 8:07 AM EDT up reply actions

How about just killing the draft altogether and relying entirely on revenue sharing to equalize teams' chances of success?

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Ford Prefect: Why, what did she tell you?
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by PaulThomas on May 7, 2025 2:35 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

THIS

So very, very much this.

"To tell the truth, I'm not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying" - Ichiro

by Philip Christy on May 7, 2025 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Dave Cameron

Gave us, IMO, the most solid suggestion for “what to do about the draft”

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/abolish-the-draft

I’ve yet to hear a better suggestion or a definitive explanation why that wouldn’t work (in it’s basic concept, not talking about picking nits)

by WillRain1 on May 7, 2025 2:46 AM EDT reply actions

I beat him by about a week on that suggestion.

http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/08/page/3/

I flushed it out a bit more months later.
I want a cookie.

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by crawdaddy on May 7, 2025 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions

don't both of these still cause the supposed PR problem?

limited money for amateur signings means limited money for international signings. no money, no development.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on May 7, 2025 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions

I could get behind abolishing the draft (it certainly would be better than just instituting hard slotting)

But I don’t like the idea of capping the amount a team can spend.

by jar75 on May 7, 2025 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Part of the problem is

With a hard draft budget and Strasburg demanding a high dollar amount, the Washington Nationals go from the only team that can sign him to a one in six chance at best.

Washington
Seattle
San Diego
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
San Francisco

I’m Strasburg, assuming the money is the same for all six teams, (they all have the same budget) because they have to sign other players as well, then I get to choose location. Hmmm, San Diego has the best weather. California though has the highest taxes. The National League is the easier league for pitchers. Pittsburgh has been terrible for decades. Baltimore competes against Boston and NY ever year. Seattle in the west only has four teams and that makes it easier for my club to win the division.

My point is all things are not equal anyway and with a team already with a disadvantage, like Washington their chance to secure the best talent in a draft year goes from, will I pay him, to a one in six chance and that’s assuming Strassburg won’t take a few hundred thousand or even a million less to sign with his boyhood team, or a club like the Cubs, who may not be in that top tier of elite teams, but is close.

Everybody gets around the same number of picks each year. Every club has the option of signing as many or as little of those numbers as they choose. Not all money is made equal. If Texas, Florida, and Kansas City offer me 300k I’m darn sure not going to sign with KC. Depending on how good my advisor is I’d probably be steered towards Texas, not because they’re better than Florida but because that state doesn’t have personal income tax and I’ll be able to keep more of my bonus money.

Pittsburgh has finally figured out that if they want to compete they have to spend money in the draft and IFA. They’re beginning to turn that franchise around. With this proposal you’ve set them back and forced them to pony up more money or seek out lesser talents to remain on equal footing. Why is that good?

by Hull Fan on May 7, 2025 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I think that choice should be a good thing. Players should have some ability to decide where they want to go and what situation they would like to be in.

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by crawdaddy on May 7, 2025 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Why should high schoolers in baseball

get a choice that the NBA, NFL, and NHL doesn’t allow? Pro sports is different than say an 18 year old choosing between McDonald’s, Barnes & Noble, and 7-11.

There are only 32 teams and they are not all equal. Some have inherent advantages over others. Thus there’s a draft so poor teams can have better draft picks to improve their teams. Removing those advantages doesn’t put everyone back on a level playing field. It makes it a beauty contest and the bad teams don’t always win those.

by Hull Fan on May 7, 2025 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions

play for the Yankees

well, that was fun

by SagehenMacGyver47 on May 7, 2025 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions

point of order

Florida doesn’t have a personal income tax either (at least, that’s my understanding) - but i understand the point you are making.

by WillRain1 on May 7, 2025 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I knew one of those other states didn't

wasn’t sure about Florida. Change Florida to Cincinnati and the point is more valid.

by Hull Fan on May 7, 2025 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

My 2 cents

The league buys out and operates all of the academies.

Then each team contributes to the cost based on a percentage of their revenues.

Then you institute an international draft.

That’s the only way I see teams being willing to do it. I doubt it would happen though.

by diehardtwinsfan on May 7, 2025 10:17 AM EDT reply actions

The problem there is

that the guys running these academies work for individual teams. They want to do their best so that not only does the player succeed for their club but also so they get noticed and get a promotion. If the MLB is running it how hard will those guys bust their butts to provide not only the best instruction but to seek out other players, find the hidden gem and work with them, knowing that he has no extra incentive to go the extra mile.

by Hull Fan on May 7, 2025 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Because draft kills money

Once you are drafted, you can negotiate with only one team. If you are an international free agent, teams can bid on you and you can choose the highest bidder. Or the other could be:

When a Canadian kid or American kid got drafted and not happy with the money, they can go to American universities to get an education as well as scholarship. For a Puerto Rican kid, I think go to university in an english speaking country/applying for scholarship in an english speaking country are too troublesome/difficult.

by CHY on May 8, 2025 9:10 AM EDT reply actions