After conducting a private workout this weekend in Venezuela, the Washington Nationals today agreed to terms on professional contracts with catcher Sandy Leon (17 years-old, switch hitter, throws right), shortstop Adrian Sanchez (16, switch hitter, throws right), center fielder Jesus Morales (17, bats and throws right) and first baseman Juan Urdaneta (17, throws and bats left). Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo and Nationals Director of Scouting Dana Brown made the joint announcement.
All four players are Venezuelan natives. Rizzo and Brown conducted the workout, which included seven players, in Maracaibo , Venezuela .
“These four players from Venezuela, coupled with the four we signed from Dominican Republic last week — all of whom are 17 years-old or younger — continue to bolster our ever-growing stable of talent that will impact our minor league system beginning in 2007,” said Rizzo. “Signings such as these continue to signal the Nationals’ arrival as an international franchise.”
Much like the players signed from the Dominican Republic, the timetable for a return on investment is not necessarily near term. However, the Nationals continue to re-establish an international presence.
Ryan Sullivan | 17-Jan-07 at 2:37 pm | Permalink
Anyone heard anything about these 4 guys?
Brian J Oliver | 17-Jan-07 at 2:43 pm | Permalink
Not word one. It would seem to me that the bigger name guys (a la Esmailyn Gonzalez) usually draw more attention individually from the typical resources (Baseball America, etc).
rafael | 17-Jan-07 at 10:41 pm | Permalink
nobody hear about carlos gonzalez , alberto gonzalez or gerardo parra all diamondbacks elite prospects from venezuela,just wait and see ,mike rizzo have the track record,i would not be surprizes if they are better that esmailyn gonzalez,baseball america do not have scouts or cover that country they rely in press releases out of the country or teams
Tulsa Fan | 19-Jan-07 at 11:32 am | Permalink
Do you know if the Venezuelan players are steered to teams via buscones like the DR or is the process of signing players different or bit more organized?
After the DR, the most bountiful harvest, by a wide wide margin, of young players in the minor leagues come from Venezuela and it’s good to see the team begin to establish itself and become active there.
Great job on the website.
Brian J Oliver | 19-Jan-07 at 5:51 pm | Permalink
TF - Yeah, the buscones pretty much are universal (though the names may change slightly from place to place). From what I understand, the next big places for international scouting are Nicaragua, Ecuador and once things settle a bit, Colombia