Listen now (36 min) | My good friend Kevin Cunningham of Giantfutures.com/ and I try to make some sense of negotiations for the future of minor league baseball.
How does the Dominican academy fit into player development and the minor leagues? Is it just for Latin American players? What ages are players? Is it year round? And where do players go from there? What minor league team level?
Hi Tony, the Dominican Academy is primarily for the Latin American players prior to their moving up to domestic leagues. Normally the players there are between 16 and about 19 years old playing at the lowest levels of competition. Players do live at the Academy much of the year, from around March or April through about October or November. And once they are deemed ready to move up they normally are promoted to the rookie level Arizona League and on from there on the normal promotion schedule. Sometimes US born players go to the Dominican Academy in the Fall either because they were injured during the year and could use a few repetitions or just for the cultural exchange experience. Prior to the coronavirus the Giants had declared the intention to start a 2nd DSL team (as they've done in the AZL) but ultimately MLB may well disallow teams from having more than 1 team in either domestic or foreign rookie leagues. We'll see. Hope that helps!
Excellent conversation - thank you Kevin and Roger! If the MLB plan is to create 8-team-only leagues at each of three levels (A, AA, AAA) in order to free up eastern markets for eastern teams, do you think they will have to pressure non-West teams (Royals, Cards, Astros, etc) to get out of the Texas League and let teams like the Giants get in there? Double-A seems to me to be a big problem.
How does the Dominican academy fit into player development and the minor leagues? Is it just for Latin American players? What ages are players? Is it year round? And where do players go from there? What minor league team level?
Hi Tony, the Dominican Academy is primarily for the Latin American players prior to their moving up to domestic leagues. Normally the players there are between 16 and about 19 years old playing at the lowest levels of competition. Players do live at the Academy much of the year, from around March or April through about October or November. And once they are deemed ready to move up they normally are promoted to the rookie level Arizona League and on from there on the normal promotion schedule. Sometimes US born players go to the Dominican Academy in the Fall either because they were injured during the year and could use a few repetitions or just for the cultural exchange experience. Prior to the coronavirus the Giants had declared the intention to start a 2nd DSL team (as they've done in the AZL) but ultimately MLB may well disallow teams from having more than 1 team in either domestic or foreign rookie leagues. We'll see. Hope that helps!
Excellent conversation - thank you Kevin and Roger! If the MLB plan is to create 8-team-only leagues at each of three levels (A, AA, AAA) in order to free up eastern markets for eastern teams, do you think they will have to pressure non-West teams (Royals, Cards, Astros, etc) to get out of the Texas League and let teams like the Giants get in there? Double-A seems to me to be a big problem.