Diamondbacks look to ramp up international efforts
A contingent of Diamondbacks officials, including owner Ken Kendrick and CEO Derrick Hall, departed for the Dominican Republic on Thursday on a fact-finding mission. They hope they can begin to build a competitive advantage in a market that’s both unpredictable yet lucrative, one that was once fruitful for the organization but, in recent years, has been mostly barren.
“We’re going to make some investment in the Dominican as a centerpiece to international scouting,” Kendrick said last week.
After recent changes to baseball’s collective-bargaining agreement, the Diamondbacks’ new regime seems to be reassessing the club’s place in the international landscape. Among the new rules is a hard cap on international spending; the Diamondbacks, by virtue of their classification as a small-revenue club, are among eight teams with the most money to spend, $5.75 million, in the upcoming signing period.
But teams with the least to spend still have $4.75 million. With so little separation, the Diamondbacks are betting that factors beyond pure dollars could weigh heavily on attracting top talent.
Already, the club has an educational component for their Latin-born players, providing instructors and a classroom setting for them to work toward a high school diploma. The team is hoping a new facility – or, at least, a significant upgrade to their current one in Boca Chica – could further entice players.
“So what differentiates club to club?” Kendrick said. “We think things like a strong educational program, a good facility, a good scouting system, etc., so we want to try to put our best foot forward down there.”
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Finding talent in the international landscape is widely regarded as the most difficult endeavor in the scouting world – even more perilous than the amateur draft. Top players typically sign out of the Dominican, Venezuela and other Latin American countries at age 16 with years of development ahead of them. Most never make it, including many of the ones who receive the largest signing bonuses.
Though the organization has spent heavily in a handful of instances, the Diamondbacks are not typically regarded as major financial players on the international market. That didn’t prevent them from producing several top-notch players, most of whom were signed in the early days of the franchise.
There was starter Vicente Padilla, reliever Jose Valverde, catcher Miguel Montero, outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Gerardo Parra – all products of the Diamondbacks’ system. All had significant value, either in performance or trade. But the pipeline has since run dry.
Among players signed by the Diamondbacks from 2005 onward, only one has produced a two-win season (per Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Replacement) or better. That player? Outfielder Ender Inciarte, who was traded to the Atlanta Braves in the Shelby Miller deal.
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According to data provided by Major League Baseball based off Opening Day rosters from the past six years, 70 foreign-born, non-drafted players have had at least one two-win season, an average of 2.3 per team.
Two years ago, the Diamondbacks took a different approach internationally. They spent big on a pair of Cubans, forking over $68.5 million to sign slugger Yasmany Tomas and paying more than $16 million to land right-hander Yoan Lopez. Tomas hit well last season but has been a defensive liability; Lopez has been a bust, performing poorly in the minors and behaving erratically off the field, and his excessive bonus resulted in restrictions on the club’s spending over the next two years.
“We’ve tried to pinpoint it,” Hall said of the club’s lack of impact internationally. “I know we have tremendous resources with (Vice President of Latin Operations) Junior (Noboa) down there. When you look at the Dominican alone, I think our scouts have done a nice job in the last few years of acquiring competitively players who have been sought after by other teams. But we just have not had that translate into a lot of players at the big-league level.”
The club’s new regime represents another shift. Assistant General Manager Amiel Sawdaye is overseeing the Diamondbacks’ international efforts; he did the same for his previous team, the Boston Red Sox, the past two years.
In recent years, the Red Sox had some notable hits internationally, including shortstop Xander Bogaerts and right-hander Carlos Martinez, whom they identified and signed before an identity fraud investigation led to the voiding of his contract and his eventual signing with the St. Louis Cardinals for a larger bonus.
The Red Sox also spent big on a pair of their own Cubans, one of whom, outfielder Rusney Castillo, has flopped, while the other, infielder Yoan Moncada, was a key piece in the Chris Sale trade.
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Sawdaye praised the Red Sox’s scouting department and executive Eddie Romero, who preceded him atop Boston’s international operation, and he says he likes what he’s seen of the Diamondbacks’ scouting infrastructure and spoke highly of Cesar Geronimo Jr., the club’s new director of international scouting.
As for the reason the Diamondbacks haven’t been more productive, he thinks patience could be required.
“We have a lot of good, young international players in our system,” Sawdaye said. “They haven’t developed yet. I think we just have to be patient. It’s easy to look back on Montero, Parra and Carlos Gonzalez because they’re all All-Stars. In five or six years, we may have some of those guys that are currently in our system that, talking to people who have seen our system, they’re very complimentary of some of these names that I’m sure you’ve probably heard of.”
The club’s most highly regarded homegrown international prospect is infielder Jazz Chisholm, who played last season at the rookie-ball level. Another, shortstop Sergio Alcantara, reached High-A and impressed in winter ball in the Dominican.
Kendrick said the club is considering a multi-million dollar investment in a facility. It’s unclear how much the team is planning to spend, but the Twins and Phillies recently opened a shared facility that reportedly cost upwards of $20 million.
Kendrick knows the Diamondbacks won’t see the benefits of such a facility for years but believes it could be vital to the club’s ability to sustain long-term success.
“It’s an investment for three, four, five years out,” Kendrick said. “It’s building that depth in the farm system that, frankly, we have to admit now is not one of our strengths. It’s a goal we need to put in the forefront of where we want to go.”
Short hops
• Right-hander Shelby Miller will start the Cactus League opener on Saturday with right-hander Braden Shipley scheduled to pitch on Sunday, manager Torey Lovullo said.
• Right-hander Zack Greinke’s next step will be to throw a live batting practice session, likely in the next couple of days, according to Lovullo.
• Single-game tickets for regular-season games will go on sale on Monday at 9 a.m. They can be purchased online at dbacks.com/tickets, at the Chase Field box office or by phone at (602) 514-8400.
Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.