Nationals Farm Authority

Barry Larkin, a special assistant to the GM to Jim Bowden, is headed to Europe to join the coaching staff of Major League Baseball International (MLBI) for their third annual academy from August 9-30 in Tirrenia, Italy.

The European Baseball Academy features 55 of the top players aged 15-20 from 13 countries in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, the Ukraine, United Kingdom) and four African nations (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda). Participants were chosen by the Major League Scouting Bureau following tryouts across Europe in April.

This should be an ideal situation for Larkin to put into practice the concept proposed by Stan Kasten. Kasten has commented on numerous occasions that he wants to make the Nationals a major player on the international stage. While Larkin may not actually sign any players, he should at the very least bring back some firsthand scouting reports of potential targets for Bowden and Mike Rizzo to target.

In other international news, MLB has just launched their inaugural academy in China. MLBI and the China Baseball Association are conducting a similar academy from August 7 to 26 designed to provide professional instruction to the best of the potential prospects in China. This again should be an opportunity for the Nationals to make their presence known. Bill Singer is in charge of scouting for the Nationals in the Pacific Rim and I would expect him to be there to ideally identify and perhaps sign the Nationals first prospects from Asia.

The Nationals today took another important step internationally:

The Washington Nationals today announced they have signed a one-year working agreement with the Tabasco Olmecas Baseball Club of the Mexican Summer League. Director of Baseball Administration Squire Galbreath made the announcement from the Nationals Spring Training site in Viera, FL.

Under the terms of the working agreement, the Nationals and Tabasco agreed to share scouting intelligence. Washington will be granted access to Tabasco’s vast scouting network and information, which is based primarily in, but not limited too, Mexico and Latin America. The agreement also calls for a coaching exchange in which from both clubs make information-gathering visits to the other club’s Spring Training camp.

The government-owned Olmecas play in Villahermosa, which is the capital city of the state of Tabasco. Located in southeastern Mexico, Villahermosa is located 419 miles southeast of Mexico City and within driving distance of Mexico’s shared border with Guatemala. The Olmecas play at 10,500-seat Estadio Centenario 27 de Febrero.

By reaching such an agreement, the Nationals have demonstrated their desire to foster relationships internationally. By the exchange of information with Tabsaco, the Nationals have gained an invaluable resource within Mexico. While the player development system in Mexico is a known quantity to most of MLB, the establishing of native connections allows th Nationals a trusted resource whose name is recognizable to native Mexicans.

Additionally, this an indication the Nationals are becoming serious in developing themselves as an international presence. If such an agreement is expanded with similar partnerships in Japan, Australia, and elsewhere, the globalization of the Nationals brand will continue to gain the foothold necessary for long term success.

From around the internet, here are a few highlights:

*The New Orleans Times-Picayune has a note suggesting the Nationals have recalled OF Ryan Church, possibly to replace an injured Alex Escobar.

*Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star writer Todd Jacobson has a blog. Todd is one of the few local guys who provides consistent coverage of the minor leagues.

MLB.com Nationals beat writer Bill Ladson had this nugget:

Third baseman Dustin Dickerson, drafted in the 15th round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, took batting practice with the Nationals on Friday afternoon. He got off to a slow start, but started to hit line drives toward the end.

Dickerson said he and Washington have not begun negotiating a professional contract. He signed a letter of intent to go to Baylor University, but is leaning toward playing Minor League baseball for the Nationals.

This is great news, if true. Dickerson was considered a second to fourth round talent who slid due to beliefs that his commitment to Baylor was too strong. From Baseball America

One of the top high school hitters in Texas this spring, Dickerson should go off the board somewhere between the second and fourth rounds. He incorporates his hands well into his swing and employs a sound whole-field approach. At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, he offers plenty of strength and raw power. He also has displayed an aptitude for making adjustments at the plate. While Dickerson isn’t one-dimensional, he’ll be drafted mainly for his bat. He has good athleticism and speed for his size, and he played wide receiver on Midway High’s district champion football team. But he has just adequate arm strength and glovework at third base, so he might move to an outfield corner or first base down the road. He’s a good student committed to Baylor, but he should sign if he gets drafted as high as expected.

*Major tip of the cap to Jonathan Helfgott, theguy behind Global Baseball. He sent me a link to a Listin Diario article on Esmailin Gonzalez, the Nationals big signing out of the Dominican Republic.

Here is a rough translation:

[From] extreme poverty to wealth.

Ana Mercedes Mars, the mother of Esmailin González, will not have more to late remove each her loaded table from fried foods: meats, yucca and guineítos (type of food) to install its fritura, that is several years old being the favorite place to have supper of many of the residents in Pisarrete, an impoverished sector of the district San Antonio in Baní.

In just a short time, the poor woman and humble house that has been their home for more than one decade will become a sad memory. Its physical structure represents the most suitable picture of the humble and close state in which it has developed the life of Esmailin, second from a family of six children of Ana Mercedes and Daniel González Martinez, who dedicates himself to the agricultural works.

Within months they will not have to look for “sellalotó” to cover the holes during the rains.

Like a many other young Dominican players, baseball will change the life of Esmailin and his family after the youngster finishes signed a $1.4M contract with the Washington Nationals.

How much is that? A little more than 45 million times the minimum wage.

There will be no more poverty for the González, as if they were touched by a magical wand, his way of living has been transformed by the heavens. Because in this house was a player who in a relatively short time would become desired by more than a dozen of Major League teams.

Many have projected Esmailin to have a glove like Ozzie Smith, and generate an offense like Miguel Tejada, but aside from these comparisons of his athletic abilities, he is till a young an inexperienced player.

Before buying a luxurious car, the first thing that Esmailin will do is build a house for his mother, Ana Mercedes, with all the comforts that his parents deserve. Because they made a tooth and nail effort to raise this family of six.

“The vehicles will come later, I am not in a hurry to buy it, to make my parents and brothers comfortable is the first thing,” said Gonzalez speaking with a security unknown in a young person of 16 years.

As if he already felt hunger to leave the poverty, González took refuge early in baseball and little by little developed the qualities that recently have made him one of the highes prospects in the country.

“The conditions he grew up in was something that affected me and I tried to help him as much as I could,” expressed Jose Lust, special Assistant of Jim Bowden who along with Basilio Vizcaíno, Gonzalez’ agent, and Jose Báez helped in the signing of González.

Before in buying mansions, Esmailin wants to continue cultivating its abilities, because many scouts have already compared him to the best existing talent in their position.

He wants to prove that the experts were no wrong.

*Also at Global Baseball, a link to the attendees at MLB’s second annual European Baseball Academy from July 27 through August 18 at the Italian Olympic Training Centre in Tirrenia, Italy.  The MLB European Academy is run by former Major League manager and player Jim Lefebvre, Bruce Hurst, Lee Smith and Hall of Famer Rod Carew.  Hopefully the Nationals will have a few scouts in attendance.

Digging around the internet this morning turned up the following site, Global Baseball. It’s a blog that will be updated by a person (jhelfgott) who is “currently working on a year-long research project on the globalization of baseball, courtesy of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Over the next 12 months, [the] project will take [the writer] to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Australia, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, and Venezuela.”

In his first posting, he mentions a Nationals prospect pitching in the Dominican Summer League (DSL), RP Atahualpa Severino. I had never heard of Severino prior to reading this posting, so I’ll leave it to the writer:

Severino’s a 21-year-old working his way back from Tommy John surgery, and has been dominant on a level considered incredible even for the pitching-friendly DSL. It’s rare to see a 21-year-old still hanging around the DSL, but when an organization decides to keep a player around that long, chances are he’s either suffered a setback due to injury, or he’s a lefthanded pitcher. Severino is both. The report, featured in yesterday’s Listin Diario, was concerned primarily with detailing Severino’s success (44 strikeouts and walked 3 in 18 innings, good for a 0.50 ERA), and repertoire (fastball sitting in the 90-92 range, and a quality curve and slider). While we get precious little in the way of a backstory here, it does say that Severino signed for a $6,000 bonus a few years ago. This is his second season in the DSL, and his first since his surgery last year. Players are only allowed a maximum of 3 years before they’re either released or sent up to their teams’ US system.

From first blush, those numbers are absolutely astounding. Forty-four strikeouts in eighteen innings pitched? That’s 22K/9IP! Those are astounding strike out numbers without even mentioning a 1.5BB/9IP which leads to an unbelievable 14.7K/B rate. His results need to be tempered with the level of competition. The DSL is considered the lowest level of competition in comparison to even the Rookie leagues (i.e the GCL Nats play in a more challenging league). His age (21) and injury history (Tommy John surgery) are a concern as well, but it’s promising to see that a player, a LHP no less, is developing well for the Nationals.

The discussion of Severino raises a larger issue for someone attempting to track the Nationals minor league system. The guys playing in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela (the Nationals are not there this year) are very difficult to follow. Box scores are few and far between. Cumulative statistics are notoriously slow (and in some cases incomplete). MiLB.com has some of the statistics, usually a few days behind, and unfortunately this season stopped carrying the DSL box scores. This leads to local newspapers (like the Listin Diario) where a knowledge of conversational Spanish is a must. And even then, it can be spotty.

I guess what I’m trying to say is “Thank You” to the author of the blog. You are providing an insight to me and indirectly my readers. I look forward to your updates from around the globe.