Blog: The globalization of Major League Baseball is taking away from the US

[PGPzilla]

This is my first blog here and I plan on doing one every week. The other day on the radio a sports talk host was talking about how Latin American prospects have no advantage over their American counterparts. I find that hard to believe and here's why. There is no age restriction in Latin America. Some of these kids are scouted at the age of 14 and signed to million dollar deals by the age of 16. They start their minor league careers at 17 and depending on the prospect, are seeing the bigs by 20 years old. Don't get it in your head that most of these kids are playing in dirt lots with subpar equipment. This isn't 15 years ago. They have organized leagues, acceptable used and new equipment. Almost every (if not all) Major League ball club have offices down there with scouts available 24/7.

Now lets take a look at US players. They might get scouted when they are 16, but none are signing million dollar deals at 15 or 16 years old. Maybe 17 or 18 and lets face it, to be drafted out high school and sign a deal like that..you have to be a damn good player. For the kids that don't get drafted out of high school they do their college time and before you know it their 20-21 years of age and doing on the average of 1-3 years of minor league ball. So the median age is around 23-24 for American prospects.

I can't argue over laws and ethics in other countries but I can argue that Major League Baseball should put those organizational efforts like they do world wide into their own backyard here in America. Baseball is quickley losing youth interest to football and basketball. Why? Easy...nowadays you can't go on your local high school or little league ball fields because of insurance and upkeep expenses. You can go anywhere and find a local basketball court and run pickup games all day long. You can go to a soccer or other large fields and get a pickup football game going. When was the last time you ran a pickup baseball game? I'll tell you when I did, 1995.

Major League Baseball needs to take it to the urban streets. Inner city kids have almost no fields to play on due to the size requirements so naturally basketball courts are almost everywhere. You go to any mid to large size suburban town or county and chances are their little leagues are a pretty big deal with tons of kids playing. Baseball participation by races other than Latin American players is going down, and a big drop in African American participation from little league all they way to bigs. Major League baseball should be concerned about this and prevent more future alienage.

I would love to hear what you guys think about this.


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[Jerome]

oh no, not the zilla

[Chubz]

Zilla is back. I just wanted these blogs to get integrated witht he forums so that they dont take away from from forum participation

[FSUViking]

Nobody plays pick-up games of anything anymore. They're too busy playing XBox. And to most kids, playing basketball and football is more exciting. Those are the top two sports at nearly every single high school and college in the United States. You're a kid living wherever. What's more appealing to you? Playing basketball at North Carolina, football at USC, or playing minor league baseball in Yuma, Arizona for 7 years? You would be in the NFL or NBA before most kids even make it to AAA.

Those are the reasons why MBL is focusing more on Latin America. It's not that the kids are coming here taking opportunities away from American kids. It's that American kids are choosing other sports and MLB has no choice but to go deeper into LA to find talent.

[Chubz]

I don't buy that for a second. Lets also not forget that the LA prospects receive big paydays, but nearly as big as some of the top us prospects. It's cheaper for teams to go outside of the US. Let's not forget what these agents do either. Some of these kids have agents all over them at 14 years of age.

[FSUViking]

Originally Posted by Chubz

I don't buy that for a second. Lets also not forget that the LA prospects receive big paydays, but nearly as big as some of the top us prospects. It's cheaper for teams to go outside of the US. Let's not forget what these agents do either. Some of these kids have agents all over them at 14 years of age.

You don't buy what?

[jstchilln120]

Not to pick on you PGPZilla but you seem to root for all the typical bandwagon/front runners.

The Yanks, Red Wings, and Bulls??