Major League Baseball has a plan to not only grow the sport but grow the brand both domestically and internationally. We see players not only from the United States and Canada but from Italy, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and a slew of other countries including Mexico. Mexico specifically has become a huge target for MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred due in large fact to their proximity to the United States as the league looks to increase the amount of Mexican-born players next season and beyond.
On Opening Day 2015 only nine Mexican-born players were on
active 40 man rosters and six of them participated in some way, shape or form
in the postseason last year. Manfred wants to see that number grow
substantially and he and officials from Major League Baseball met with the
Mexican Summer League (LMB) during the winter meetings to try and overhaul the
player-acquisition system between the two leagues.
One major wall in the process has already been dropped as
LMB officials have dropped the mandate that blacklisted players who signed directly
with MLB clubs rather than playing for their home country. This was in an
effort to gain revenue for the LMB since the league would then sell their
talent to MLB clubs much like the Korean Baseball Organization and Nippon
Professional Baseball League do. MLB has agreed to share some of the costs for
development, scouting and other expenditures in order to allow players from
Mexico a quicker path to the majors.
In relation there were 83 players in MLB from the Dominican
Republic in 2015 and 65 players who once called Venezuela home. Nine were from
Mexico, this is an untapped resource and market for MLB in terms of talent and
fans.
In recent memory we can remember players like Roberto Osuna
being sold to the Toronto Blue Jays for $1.5 million in 2011 and Dodgers top
pitching prospect Julio Urias being sold to Los Angeles in 2012 for $450,000.
Manfred wants and expects more players to come to the states to add to the
already deep talent pool for MLB. The floodgates are open ladies and gentleman,
let the talent signing begin.
The Yankees have had some success acquiring pitchers from Mexico. They bought the contracts of Alfredo Aceves and Manny Banuelos. Those are just the two I could think of immediately.
ReplyDeleteThat's a true statement. There's another I can't remember, it's not Ramiro Pena although I think he is from Mexico as well. Either way they have done well with acquiring talent out of Mexico, you're absolutely right Eliot.
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