On Saturday, 15 January 2022, Major League Baseball teams spent upwards of US$52 million to hire new young Dominican baseball talent. Over the weekend, baseball academies in the Dominican Republic, and then restaurants, hotel lobbies, and lawyer’s offices were filled with agents, the young talents and their entourages. You see, baseball is a grooming business where young baseball players are found by talent scouts and then taken to these baseball academies where they are taught baseball, English and basic school subjects, but, above all, baseball.
If the experts see that raw talent players need to be successful, they usually have the person or his family, lawyer or agent sign a contract that places a percentage of future earnings as a reward for the group that has trained the prospect. This means that of the US$52 million that was spent on new talent on Saturday, as much as US$20 million could have gone to these middle persons, including coaches and scouts.
These signings mean the end to poverty for many families. As far as is currently known, young Roderick Arias, 17, was signed by the New York Yankees for US$4.0 million. Last year, the Yankees signed another Dominican, Jasson Dominguez, for US$5.1 million. Anthony Gutierrez has received $2.5 million with the Texas Rangers, Juan Simon another $1.9 million with the Anaheim Angles, Jonathan Mejia $2.0 millions with the St. Louis Cardinals, and so on.
This list is by no means complete. Just the New York Mets, spent US$10 million on Saturday, signing some 20 prospects from Latin America. History tells us that perhaps one in 300 will see action in the big Leagues, but when the bets pay off, baseball can enjoy seeing the David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr or Fernando Tatis Jr, play the national pastime of the United States at the highest level.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
El Caribe
17 January 2022