Latin American Player Prospect Analysis

It takes a tremendous number of hours, days, years of work to get to the MLB.

Coleman was a big reason why the RBI program, which stands for Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities, has become a popular program to grab the attention of blacks at a young age to engage in the game of baseball. This program has produced a number of current Major League Players such as Carl Crawford, Coco Crisp and Wil Nieves. About 190 RBI programs have been started domestically and at military bases around the country. Major League Baseball is also giving Little League Baseball $250,000 a year to expand their leagues to urban programs. They have also constructed a baseball academy in Compton, California to try to duplicate the success baseball has had in influencing Latin American countries to the game.

Any sports one looks at can be classified as a money-making pit. Scouts looking at young talent ready to sign them for a quick buck and then once they stop producing, move on to the next potential talent. Baseball is the sport that is an industry dominated by trying to gain a profit from a region’s juvenile talent (Ruck). Since 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, there has been an increase in Latin American countries represented in MLB. More than a quarter of major league players are from Latin American, with about half of the minor league players being Latino (Ruck). On the opening day of the 2011 season, eighty-six players represented the Dominican Republic alone. That is more than a tenth of major leaguers (Ruck). One would

When someone thinks of baseball, they probably think of Mike Trout or Bryce Harper. They think of those two players for one reason: they are the best players in the game. Both were drafted in the first round and shot up through the minor leagues to the major leagues very quickly. Their talent and work ethic allow them to perform at an above average level, even in the major leagues. Although they both have enormous

Despite the color barrier being broken in 1947, the amount of African Americans in the MLB has been steadily declining for over two decades from nearly thirty percent to an all-time low of eight percent of the leagues players. The MLB has spent years creating think tanks and task forces attempting to figure out why this decline is happening and how to reverse it. Their biggest motivator is that the MLB has fallen behind both the NBA and NFL in popularity, with the African American fan base shrinking at the highest rate. There is a vast amount of opinions with varying reasoning from the sport being too white with an all-white viewership, to African Americans are drawn to more physical sports, there’s far too much bias and stereotypes involved

During the research of this paper there were several discoveries about the inner workings about the great American past time of baseball that was brought to my attention. The realization of how players are selected requires a great deal of thought and ingenuity (Thaler & Sunstein, 2003). As a former ball player (softball player), the remembrance of selecting individuals to play usually meant picking the best hitters and fielder for the team. However, with the tremendous amount of revenue generated in the game of baseball the organization providing the highest salary usually determines the player’s team.

Baseball is considered America's pastime as it is steeped in history and prestige. However, due in part to the emergence of alternative sporting events such as skateboarding, snowboarding and competitive biking, the profits previously garnered within the industry are not growing as fast as they once where. In fact, in many instances, individual player salaries are outpacing the growth of ticket and television revenue. Table 1 within the appendix was constructed by Michael J. Haupert, a professor at the University of Wisconsin. The table depicts TV revenue (excluding local markets), average ticket price, and average player salary from 1964 to 2002. For your convenience the pertinent information is highlighted in yellow. As depicted from the chart, total television revenue from 1964 to 2002 increased nearly 1000% on an inflation adjusted basis. During this same period however, player salaries have increase by over 2500%. Likewise, average ticket prices have not increased by this magnitude either (Haupert, 2010). Futhermore, according to the Forbes, every team in baseball with the exception of one (The Florida Marlins) spent at least 80% of their revenue on baseball operations last year. These operations include player salaries as well. The percentages vary and ranged from the Detroit Tigers who spent 116% of their revenue (operated at a loss), to the Marlins who spent 68%. Seventeen teams spent 90% or more on baseball operating expenses (Pasnanski, 2010). To many individuals,

For prospects that are forced into the minor leagues for development, the road to the majors has proven a grueling process and the majority of players never make it to the major leagues. Extremely low salaries and bonuses in the minor leagues has become an ongoing, controversial topic between MLB commissioner Bud Selig and minor league players 17. A fast food worker makes between $15,000 and $18,000 a year, which is two or three times as large as minor league players’ average salary, so minor league players are forced to have multiple jobs throughout the year 18. The majority of minor league players lie below the federal poverty level and while MLB salaries are rapidly increasing, minor leagues salaries remain constant. The MLB receives exemptions

It has been said that “people learn from mistakes” (Roth 21) by prestigious and successful individuals such as Dr. Bernard Roth, in an attempt to provoke people to chase their dreams despite any mistakes or obstacles. The failure of becoming eligible for the MLB draft this year is a colossal setback for players interested in being drafted. Although this is considered a failing in society’s eyes, these players have a chance to learn from there mistakes and use that knowledge to eventually get drafted in a following year. Possibly the most substantial issue that most of these athletes had to overcome would be lacking important knowledge necessary to provide a respectable run at the MLB draft. The lack of knowledge can be broken up into 3 aspects: beginning with a bad plan, having unrealistic expectations, and coasting in the baseball portion. All of these factors contribute to teaching the athletes who failed this year how to succeed next year.

Since its inception, MLB has been in control of its relationship with dominican baseball. MLB’s interest in cheap dominican talent and the need to develop that talent, resulted in the baseball academy and a slew of unintended consequences. It is a place where green and raw prospects go to hone and develop their skills until they are ripe for the picking by MLB. The academy system was designed to procure and develop Dominican players more effectively, with little thought given to the system’s longer-term effects. Very quickly, the academy system changed into a predatory model that led to a withering of amateur baseball and the decline of Dominican professional baseball. Academies began holding tryouts, diverting young Dominicans away from a

The minor league system is also referred to as an organizations farm system. These minor league systems are split into many different levels such as: Triple A, Double A, Single A (both low and high), Rookie ball, and other lower level instructional leagues with Triple A being the highest and closest level to the Majors. What is quite unique about Major League Baseball’s minor league system compared to that of other such Professional sports leagues is that it is comprised of such diversity. The minors have players from US colleges, high schools, but also from all over Latin America. Major League Baseball has established itself in Latin America as a premiere way for these young kids who are looking for a way out of their developing nation to find success in the American dream. While the MLB focuses much time and effort all over Latin America, this paper will focus primarily on how Major League Baseball helps developing nations specifically the case of the Dominican Republic.

The Oakland A's, under the management of Billy Beane, found a gap in the baseball skills market that existed because most baseball scouts and managers used traditional methods of selecting players that were outdated and had little relationship with skills that brought success to teams. Traditionally, baseball scouts mainly used batting averages (BA) and Runs batted in (RBI) to sign new players. On-base percentage (OBP) was used too, but it was not given as much premium as RBI and BA. Thus, when looking for players, almost all scouts went for players that scored highly on BA and RBI while ignoring those that scored highly on OBP but had low scores in BA and RBI. However, through analysis of

In the world of major league baseball, the Oakland A’s defied the laws of baseball economics. The team spent only $34 million (the 2nd lowest payroll) had won 102 games and lost only 60 in 2001. On top of this, they finished first in their division and made the playoffs. Major baseball teams would hire high school players rather than college players. This made high school players costly. The Oakland A’s strategy is to hire college players to save on resources. They argued that college players have already gained substantial exposure and

number 23 out of 30 top salaries in the league, they also had 96 wins

and analyzing vast amounts of baseball data. Then came the boom in baseball players’ salaries: this dramatically