Mariners Minors

[wazzu31]

I am starting to feel that prospects from Latin countries that we sign from the international free agent pool are the better bet. I will say this and feel free to attack me. The sport of baseball in America is not really a path for people in humble situations. If you are an American College or HS player you most likely are in a good situation at home. These players from Latin countries from poor settings are doing any and everything to try and make it to the league and get paid especially for hitters. If you look at the top 10 in every hitting category at least half of the listed players are foreign born. Of all the young talented hitter prospects we had the one that truly made it was Julio Rodriguez.

True, it’s the problem with predatory practices of youth athletics and something John Smoltz has been warning about for a decade. You can’t turn youth baseball into basically tennis while urban areas pave over sandlots

But on that same note that is also the problem of MLB. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars in academics in other countries, yet don’t do squat for little leagues. When I was a kid the Mariners built complexes that now have the two best little leagues in the state. Baseball is better when they invest and right now that is in Latin America and Asia.