MLB’s International Draft Would Affect Dominican Republic

Many people in the D.R. also find ways to take pieces of the players’ bonuses. Some lend money — with interest — to the families of players who have verbal agreements, and thus expect a future payday. Liriano’s family took out loans, Rodríguez said, but the bonus never came. At 18, Liriano remains at Rodríguez’s academy and unsigned.

Although Noboa said the Dominican Republic’s government had no official position, he made a few references in a recent interview to the ways a draft could improve the existing system “a lot” because “you don’t know which organization you’re going to sign with.”

The tenor at La Marina, a public baseball facility in Santo Domingo, on a recent morning was decidedly against the draft. Rafael Báez, whose baseball league has 300 children ranging from 5 to 12, and Franklin Guerrero, one of his trainers, feared that American officials wanted more control over the process, that under-the-table deals would continue, that there is no formal structure like high school baseball. Dominican players, they said, would have fewer opportunities.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/24/sports/baseball/international-draft-dominican-republic.html