emerging baseball countries

[CubfanBen]

hey, I just wanted to get your guys opinion on what countries you guys think can or are going to be the next great breeding grounds for baseball talent. We already know about the Dominican and Venezuela, and even South Korea and Taiwan have produced some players, but what about any others? Personally, i think Brazil will start producing some players in the next 5-10 years. I also think China is a great untapped market, and even though baseball is the number one sport in Nicaragua, i think more and more players are going to start coming from there as they are building an academy there and more and more teams will start to scout there more heavily. What do you guys think?

[Outshined_One]

Frankly, I think the next areas of interest for baseball prospects will be Europe and Australian. Most of those countries have stable governments, have had varying levels of exposure to baseball, are relatively wealthy, and have the necessary infrastructure to get academies up and running in short order. The European Academy has started turning out quality prospects (Max Kepler comes immediately to mind) and there have been a decent number of Australians in MLB over the years (Grant Balfour, Graeme Lloyd, etc.).

 

I'm skeptical about places like China, India, and Brazil. Baseball's presence in those countries is incredibly limited, plus I have to wonder whether those countries would have the infrastructures necessary to establish academies, churn out quality players, and provide enough of a return on investment to justify building more academies, or at the very least, keeping them there. Those countries have so many hurdles that they need to overcome in order to be successful baseball countries. I have a hard time buying that those places could produce quality baseball players in the next 5-10 years.

 

Now, granted, all bets are off if a Yao Ming or a Dirk Nowitzki level superstar comes onto the scene in the next few years. Having a superstar from somewhere like China come onto the scene in MLB would dramatically incentivize teams to spend resources on scouting talent in China.

[Sammy Sofa]

You doubt that China, India and Brazil have the necessary "infrastructure?" What the hell? Please explain.

[Outshined_One]

You doubt that China, India and Brazil have the necessary "infrastructure?" What the hell? Please explain.

 

Essentially, I meant infrastructure from a baseball perspective. The MLB academies in Europe (started in 2004) and Australia (started in 2001) have had a large number of players signed by various teams over the past few years. MLB opened an academy in China back in 2009, although I don't think anyone has been signed from it yet. The Rays are the only team to have opened an academy in Brazil; that hasn't started to bear fruit yet and no other teams have followed suit. MLB has had some forays into India, but nothing involving large numbers of scouts and coaches.

 

Another difficulty in terms of the infrastructure in terms of developing quality baseball players is getting kids playing baseball when they are young. That requires access to the essentials for baseball: fields, coaches, equipment, etc. While interest in baseball in those countries has been growing, those essentials are not prevalent enough to lay a useable foundation for baseball to develop in those countries. Enough of that particular infrastructure exists in Europe (particularly due to America's large military presence) and Australia that I think it'll be easier to see Europe become a breeding ground for young talent than China, Brazil, or India over the next few years.

 

Long story short, baseball is much more established in Europe and Australia than it is in China, India, and Brazil. Those three countries could certainly become hotbeds for talent in the future, but I think, in the short term, Europe and Australia are better bets.

[Sammy Sofa]

I agree with some of that, but the "infrastructure" thing still doesn't make any sense. If the Dominican Republic can have kids playing baseball then so can those countries.

[Outshined_One]

I agree with some of that, but the "infrastructure" thing still doesn't make any sense. If the Dominican Republic can have kids playing baseball then so can those countries.

 

I never said those countries couldn't. I was answering the question of which countries I thought were likely to be the next major breeding grounds for talent. My opinion was that Europe and Australia were further ahead of China, India, and Brazil. Those three countries all have fantastic potential, but I think it is going to take much more time and resources for those three countries to become hotbeds for talent.

[Guest]

I don't think he means it's a matter of capability. It just takes years to build the sport in a country where all the kids play ball growing up and therefore the level of competition at higher levels makes it easier for prospects to jump to pro ball. If you open an academy in Brazil tomorrow, all the kids are still going to be playing soccer, and all you're doing is signing athletes that you hope pan out. It wouldn't be a prudent investment. Down the line? Sure. But there's no first mover advantage at this point.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't think he means it's a matter of capability. It just takes years to build the sport in a country where all the kids play ball growing up and therefore the level of competition at higher levels makes it easier for prospects to jump to pro ball. If you open an academy in Brazil tomorrow, all the kids are still going to be playing soccer, and all you're doing is signing athletes that you hope pan out. It wouldn't be a prudent investment. Down the line? Sure. But there's no first mover advantage at this point.

 

That's obvious.

[wvcbxl]

Europe and Australia are better bets.

 

There's already 49 Dutch nationals under contract with MLB organizations - although a sizeable chunk of them are from Curaçao (including four of their five major leaguers).

MLB is making an big effort to scout talent from outside the two traditional baseball nations (Italy and the Netherlands) by also organizing try-outs in Germany and the Czech republic. The system seems to work quite well - junior players are selected by their national baseball federations and sent to the try-outs and MLB selects those that get invited to the academy in August. Of the 227 that attended in the last five years, 45 have signed pro contracts with MLB organizations, which seems like a decent success rate.

[questionmarkgrace]

hey, I just wanted to get your guys opinion on what countries you guys think can or are going to be the next great breeding grounds for baseball talent. We already know about the Dominican and Venezuela, and even South Korea and Taiwan have produced some players, but what about any others? Personally, i think Brazil will start producing some players in the next 5-10 years. I also think China is a great untapped market, and even though baseball is the number one sport in Nicaragua, i think more and more players are going to start coming from there as they are building an academy there and more and more teams will start to scout there more heavily. What do you guys think?

 

great post. this definitely needs to be talked about. I think the first question is how do teams decide where to go? 1)Is it based upon their potential to gain maximum influence or find the best players or both? (as happened in latin america with the illegitimate agent system that clearly helped some teams gain leverage over the top talents), 2) do they simply find out about an individual athlete then realize wow there are a lot of talented guys here then slowly teach the game set up training centers etc? 3) do they look at cultural-ethnic traits or body types in determining things like size potential, growth, athletic ability and decide to look for talent? 4) do they look at international business factors such as the ability to foster relations with the governments and talent agents, buy land and set up complexes, ability to market the team and the sell merchandise? 5) Maybe other sociological factors come into play such as the ability to bulk up the players with better nutrition (this was a often repeated axiom with latin american players that you pick the talent and get them to the states to put on muscle mass with added nutrition), the affinity for baseball in the country, or in the case of india do they look at similar skill set such as with cricket players who already possess some of aptitude necessary to play baseball? Did I miss anything?

 

Probably all of these factors come into play in some way but some teams obviously weigh them differently.

[CubfanBen]

great post. this definitely needs to be talked about. I think the first question is how do teams decide where to go? 1)Is it based upon their potential to gain maximum influence or find the best players or both? (as happened in latin america with the illegitimate agent system that clearly helped some teams gain leverage over the top talents), 2) do they simply find out about an individual athlete then realize wow there are a lot of talented guys here then slowly teach the game set up training centers etc? 3) do they look at cultural-ethnic traits or body types in determining things like size potential, growth, athletic ability and decide to look for talent? 4) do they look at international business factors such as the ability to foster relations with the governments and talent agents, buy land and set up complexes, ability to market the team and the sell merchandise? 5) Maybe other sociological factors come into play such as the ability to bulk up the players with better nutrition (this was a often repeated axiom with latin american players that you pick the talent and get them to the states to put on muscle mass with added nutrition), the affinity for baseball in the country, or in the case of india do they look at similar skill set such as with cricket players who already possess some of aptitude necessary to play baseball? Did I miss anything?

 

Probably all of these factors come into play in some way but some teams obviously weigh them differently.

Personally I think the Cubs as well as other teams should maybe try to build academies in countries where baseball isn't as big(like the Rays did in Brazil)so they can maybe create a little interest in the game and give kids who otherwise wouldn't be able to play, a chance to.

[questionmarkgrace]

great post. this definitely needs to be talked about. I think the first question is how do teams decide where to go? 1)Is it based upon their potential to gain maximum influence or find the best players or both? (as happened in latin america with the illegitimate agent system that clearly helped some teams gain leverage over the top talents), 2) do they simply find out about an individual athlete then realize wow there are a lot of talented guys here then slowly teach the game set up training centers etc? 3) do they look at cultural-ethnic traits or body types in determining things like size potential, growth, athletic ability and decide to look for talent? 4) do they look at international business factors such as the ability to foster relations with the governments and talent agents, buy land and set up complexes, ability to market the team and the sell merchandise? 5) Maybe other sociological factors come into play such as the ability to bulk up the players with better nutrition (this was a often repeated axiom with latin american players that you pick the talent and get them to the states to put on muscle mass with added nutrition), the affinity for baseball in the country, or in the case of india do they look at similar skill set such as with cricket players who already possess some of aptitude necessary to play baseball? Did I miss anything?

 

Probably all of these factors come into play in some way but some teams obviously weigh them differently.

Personally I think the Cubs as well as other teams should maybe try to build academies in countries where baseball isn't as big(like the Rays did in Brazil)so they can maybe create a little interest in the game and give kids who otherwise wouldn't be able to play, a chance to.

 

 

I don't think its at all about giving kids a chance to play that normally wouldnt. Brazil is of interest because there is talent there and its an emerging economy with growth potential. Don't fool yourself the cubs just like the rays are multi-million dollar business I highly doubt they scout based upon benevolence.