Bani, Dominican Republic – There was very little sleep on the days to 15 January.
Dozens of teenagers in the Republic of Dominican lay on the bed, unable to close their eyes. He batted, picked and participated as long as he was abandoning time away from the family, as he was a child with the hope of returning with a life-long pay day. The next David Ortis or Pedro Martinease expected to become – unimaginable financial security with Big League stars. Those trips started as a young man at the age of 10, running against time to lock the players in a contract at the age of 16 – before it was too late.
“When you say you are 17, they don’t even see you,” said the player-trainer Carlos Learvarez.
Now, for some people, they were at risk for that future, all away from the world due to a promising pitcher.
Probably carried forward this offsen by every Major League team, Japanese Fenome Roki Sasaki announced on January 17 that he intends to join Los Angeles Dozers, after signing for MLB’s top international possibilities two days later – The same period in which there were hundreds of dominican players. The MLB teams are expected to finalize the handshake deals with the teams and finally cash in cash they had for years. 23-year-old Sasaki signed a minor league contract with $ 6.5 million bonus-man, which would have otherwise gone to the Dominican players.
Instead, the Caribbean country’s baseball industry was once again forced to reconsider with a system, many people are broken because it struggles to find a solution.
“It is a young boy’s dream to play in the major league,” said Junior Noboa, Baseball Commissioner of Dominican Republic. “This not only gives him the opportunity to change his life, but also changes his family’s life completely.”
Recently, on the afternoon of January, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred met behind the doors closed with President Louis Abinadar at the Dominican Republic’s huge National Palace.
At the emergence, Manfred told reporters that an international draft was the best solution to end the early oral deals with the families of young Dominican players.
“I draft you, you sign, you know that you have an agreement,” he said.
Such a system is far from years, the best. Despite the years of corruption and criticism, what lives is a form of free agency, in which Scouts Caribbean is a 10 -year -old youth in search of talented players in the country, who then hopes to reach a handshake deal in academies Live and take training. On the contract of a multimilian-dollar with an MLB franchise before 16. The signature period of this year was for players born between September 1, 2007 and 31 August 2008.
Dominican poverty rate is more than 20%, and some families live at less than $ 2 per day. Signing a large league bonus – for hundreds of thousands, if there are no millions of dollars – a player can change the lives of his family and others around him. This is a large amount of pressure, and it is square on children who will be middle schools in America
There are many concerns. Fear is that loans may target huge future earnings of shark players. Oral commitments with separate teams. And recently, the increasing examples of the players are being pressurized to prove their age wrong for seven or eight years to increase their age. It includes news of a prominent player in the last November, which was under the name Caesar Altagrasia, which was punished by MLB for pretending to be 14 years old with San Diego Padress. He was actually 19 years old.
“I believe demands are very high, and that’s why we are looking at some cases incorrectly,” Noboa said, seeing that baseball scouts insist on seeing young teenagers playing like adults.
Every year in the Republic of Dominican, there are at least 40,000 players who are 16 and are capable of signing under MLB rules, but only 550 to 600 are given deals, a local scout Dady Lorenzo said.
Push to note has heavy weight in a country with limited options, where 95% of training in academies is spoiled and the majority left school to pursue their big dreams.
“First you develop a child, first he can enter the market. And first he comes into the market, the more money can be found, ”Lorenzo said. “It is a third world country and a business. Everyone tries to get the most money for a player. This is reality. ,
The Dominican Republic’s phone recently pinged with a message, giving details of the names of local players, which MLB had suspected of lying about his age.
The instructors noted, but all the people seeking a multimilian-dollar contract were caught early in the game.
Álvarez, who was previously known as Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez, played with Washington National for three years before being caught. At the age of 15, he took the name of his cousin and after the pressure of his coach and despite his mother and uncle’s opposition and opposition, took four years out of his real age.
“I really tried to go on it with my real age, but there was no chance,” álvarez said.
He signed with citizens at $ 1.4 million in 2006 and tried to focus on the game despite constant fear, which would lose everything despite constant fear.
The day the team introduced their new players, All -waraz fell heart when he saw and saw that his face was on the big screen. He admitted that the citizens were only a few minutes away from knowing that they lied. Álvarez was leading his physical, and since he never had one, he thought that it included X-rays that would somehow reveal his real age.
Now a trainer located in the western city of Bani, where the mango and palm trees rust, álvarez says the pressure on young players can be unbearable.
“They think they are only what their family can help,” álvarez said.
Juan Emilio Pental, who played as a catcher for doseers in the Dominican Complex League, recalled the growing up with two pairs of shoes: one to play one ball and the other for the weekend.
At the age of about 15 years, at the insistence of his coach, he assumed the name of his neighbor and close friend: Amouri Arius. He was so committed, he also remembered his friend’s grandmother’s name.
“Those who are poor are ready to do anything,” he said.
Pintaill played with the Dominican Minor League team of the Doosers for three years, then left for the reasons that he was asked that he said, “They never came to know about me.”
At the age of 14, Carlos de la Rosa is familiar with the pressure to secure an MLB contract.
He started playing baseball with a plastic bottle every day at the age of 9, until his mother said, “Let’s take you to the baseball ground.”
He has not left it since then, playing shortstop in hope, he can follow his brother’s footsteps, who signed with Canasus City Royals two years ago.
“It is different from here, because here, at my age, I have to be at 100%,” he said with a soft smile because the sweat rolled his forehead.
It is possible to sign at the latter age, but the bonuses are small and sometimes there is also an investigation. Johann Quizada, a former MLB pitcher that now plays in Mexico, signed 18. Remembering MLB, he remembers that where he studied, where he was baptized and even to match his DNA with his parents even 6-foot- 9 And is as his father. Only 6-1.
Noboa said that he is working with the government to cut the fraud of age. They have started registering the academies to keep an eye on them, but they only have 300 out of 300 thousands that work across the country, added to hundreds and added players every year and became coaches.
Noboa has also contacted government agencies to monitor or replace official documents, as they believe that public employees are illegally earning profits from fraud.
“They are not doing it for free, you know,” Noboa said.
But other changes are out of his hands, and generally out of the hands of trainers, players, scouts and Dominican Republic.
Most especially, an international draft. Noboa believes that a draft can cure many problems of the system by eliminating the encouragement for MLB teams so that they can at least younger with the players.
For beginning, support in DR is not uniform. Some coaches still see the price for players in a market where they are technically free agents, although their capacity has declined rapidly in their cash. By 2017, there was no cap on how much a team could spend on a Latin American player. MLB then interacted with Major League players on a CAP as part of his collective bargaining agreement, and the total expenditure fell by 25% to $ 153 million the following year.
The management tried to make a draft agreement for the second time in 2022 and proposed a minimum cost of $ 191 million for 2024, but the Sangh rejected an international draft – acceptance of the acceptance of draft pick up compensation for eligible free agents Must have done. In 2024, spending on international amateurs was a total of $ 181 million.
The current labor contract is ending in December 2026, which is unlikely to change as soon as possible by 2028. If and when the interaction on the international draft begins again, it will be MLB and the Major League players active on the table-not Dominican coaches or teenagers are fighting for those living deals.
“They say,” Don’t change what works, “Lorenzo said. “From teams to trainers, there is a lot of hypocrisy from all … They say they are against it. They are the first to start taking a 10 -year -old child and start training.”
MLB: /MLB
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