Every team in baseball — except the all-but-banned Braves — splashed money around yesterday with the official onset of the 2019-20 international amateur market. That statement is unremarkable in general, but it’s significant for an Orioles franchise that has largely watched from the sidelines in recent years in Latin America.
The rest of the industry has dropped over $150MM annually on youthful, unproven, uber-talented ballplayers from North America’s neighbors to the south. Meanwhile, the Baltimore organization has typically traded away its allotted international spending capacity to its rivals in exchange for generally less interesting but more advanced prospects.
It has been known for some time that the new Baltimore regime, led by GM Mike Elias, would be reentering the Latin American market. But it’s notable nevertheless to see the club finally do so with gusto, particularly since its initial efforts in the prior signing period didn’t shake out quite as hoped.
Baltimore didn’t chase after the biggest names of this year’s class, many of whom had long since agreed to big bonuses with other clubs that possess much-more-established scouting and developmental networks. The three players highlighted in the club’s press release — outfielder Luis Gonzalez, lefty Luis Ortiz, and shortstop Leonel Sanchez — were note cited as elite prospects by Baseball America (scouting links), MLB.com, or Fangraphs. Gonzalez and Ortiz each received sub-$500K bonuses, per MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, on Twitter.
Instead, the O’s went for volume, inking 27 new players yesterday alone — most from the Dominican Republic, but also including eight Venezuelans and one apiece from Aruba, the Bahamas, and Colombia. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper points out on Twitter, that haul handily exceeded the team’s total international signings in each of the past five years.
In their announcement, the O’s made clear this is just the tip of the iceberg. In a prepared statement, Elias said:
“This July 2 is a big day for our franchise. These young players from all parts of Latin America will bolster our burgeoning farm system and jumpstart the continual flow of talent we are building. Today is only the beginning of our efforts, as we will continue to sign more players throughout the 2019-20 signing period. Our International Scouting staff has already begun laying the groundwork for future classes.”
That international scouting staff is led by Koby Perez, who is now introducing his first class just six months after taking the helm. He chatted recently with Dan Connolly of The Athletic (subscription link), explaining that he’s overseeing a “smaller staff” than he has been involved with in other clubs. While Perez didn’t have much time to lay groundwork, he notes that he and Elias already had quite a lot of knowledge about this year’s class. The group “just got right to work with trying to make the best decisions” this year, jumping on uncommitted players they had their eyes on along with “some late bloomers.”
While the Orioles didn’t secure any “big fish,” Perez says that approach could be available in the future. The club anticipates signing more than ten players to $100K+ bonuses — as note above, a reflection of the reality of the timing of the O’s entry onto the market. Perez says the organization has also held some of its spending availability in reserve, with something in the realm of thirty to forty percent of the $6,481,200 initial bonus pool still left to utilize on “some players that may or may not come out later, and also for the late bloomers.” There’s plenty more insight available in the interview, which is essential reading for O’s fans and close followers of the international market.
Plenty of work remains for the Baltimore organization. Getting into the Latin American amateur market hardly ensures success; making efficient use of it will require further investment in facilities and human resources. But even as they work to develop a sound, long-term decisionmaking process, the Orioles have already opened a valuable new talent pipeline.
The Giants also kind of went by this approach, I believe they signed 25 players. Which is good because you never know what these kids could end up as. Definitely a good gamble.
I wonder if the Orioles thought they were smart by in the past not dipping into international signings.
The Braves are trying this approach now…lol
More like the braves are forced into this approach..
Don’t worry the Braves are going to be just fine.
There are two primary reasons that the Orioles avoided international signings in the past, and both are tied to Peter Angelos. First, Angelos is a lawyer, someone who is risk-averse and desires as much control as possible. As such, he watched as other teams spent tens of millions of dollars on 16, 17, 18 year olds who never panned out (think Alex Guerrero) and didn’t think that his team could afford to make that gamble. Remember that despite having a top 3 payroll twenty years ago, Baltimore has always been at best a mid-market team. Secondly, but perhaps more importantly, Angelos the lawyer could not reconcile having to do business in the shady and sometimes illegal world of the buscones. He felt that the system was (and likely will always be) corrupt and wanted as little to do with it as possible. I think that his sons, who are now in charge, understand that this is a cost of doing business if you want the best chance to make your organization successful.
3. The real reason is allegedly one of the Angelos boys got into some trouble in the Dominican in the last 90’s and Peter swore off recruiting in Latin America because of the “legal issues”.
Mstrchef13 You do not know what you’re talkin about.
I believe they thought they were being smart (and I thought then it was good outside-the-box thinking) but it was not.
The O’s should literally be in everywhere, trying to do anything to fix it.
They’re doing just that.
“The Orioles Are Officially In The Game In Latin America.”
Here’s a cookie.
I thought there was going to be like another Puerto Rico game somewhere and that the O’s would be in it…
“I thought there was going to be like another Puerto Rico game somewhere and that the O’s would be in it.”
Puerto Rico could finally have a a minor league baseball team.
“Puerto Rico could finally have a minor league team” Yeah, I’m sure minor league teams will start flying to Puerto Rico to play. They’ll drive that team bus straight to Puerto Rico from Myrtle Beach…..
When i read the title my only thought was…at least they are in the game somewhere
In other words, they took the cheaper route. We’ll see if that works out.
In seven years.
They took the we have no pipeline and very few relationships down there route. Even if the orioles could’ve signed 2 big ticket guys and used up 90% of the intl money in that regard that doesn’t build a pipeline. The goal was to build up an international system and that takes quantity at this stage. All the Jasson Dominguez’s and Paulson’s were accounted for long before Elias ever came into power.
They might have gotten nothing or they might’ve found a couple useful pieces somewhere down the line. This is how you have to start though.
In other words, you’re saying they took the cheap route. I already said it.
I’m well aware of the rationale. Also well aware of the strategy. No need to get defensive over the obvious.
signing 30 international guys over 2 such guys usually ends up being more beneficial. a lot of the bigger ticket guys end up flaming out, where guys like Altuve, Sixto, etc were lower value signings. quantity over quality any day when it comes to the 16 year old players.
No right now the Orioles need quantity over quality.
Welcome to the party…. only what is it 20, 30, 40 years too late.
Peter Angelos needs to sell the team to someone competent.