Major League Baseball International Showcase took place in Santo Domingo on 9-10 February 2015. MLB reports that a dozen baseball federation leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean attended the two-day event at the Quisqueya Stadium. Matches took place between players who will be eligible to sign with Major League clubs beginning 2 July. Some of the top teens from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Aruba and Colombia took part and the league now hopes to add more countries.
High-ranking baseball officials from Panama, Nicaragua, Aruba, St. Maarten, El Salvador, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic joined Argentina, the Bahamas, Chile and El Salvador on the first-base line during a pre-game ceremony before the Red and Blue teams took the field.
“They are here in order to show them what an event like this looks like, and hopefully create something they can aspire to and do,” said Kim Ng, senior vice president of baseball operations for Major League Baseball.
“We want to engage them and find out how we can help them in different areas, whether that’s helping to provide more playing opportunities or helping to provide more infrastructure in terms of instruction. We want to help them connect with baseball evaluators to get their players signed. In terms of growth on our end, we are trying to grow the game.”
Last year’s International Showcase was held in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. Eighteen of the players from MLB.com’s list of 2014 Top International Prospects – including seven of the top 10 – participated in the event.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/108783556/mlb-international-showcase-begins-in-dominican-republic
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2015/#list=prospects