Baseball Latin America – Baseball Brazil

photo credit: athleticsnation.com

The World Baseball Classic concluded yesterday with the Dominican Republic beating Puerto Rico in a 3-0 game that only punctuated how relatively level the playing field now is between some of the top national teams in the world. A lot will be said about how successful this WBC was in terms of popularity, but where the true growth in popularity counts the most right now is in the countries where the sport is evolving from being a small blip on the local sports and cultural landscape to something more.

Brazil, of course, is my go-to example of that. Even though the Brazilians didn’t have success in the W column in the first round of the WBC, the fact that they hung in tough with Japan and Cuba piqued enough Brazilians’ interests back home to dig just a littler deeper in to what was going on over in Fukuoka. Brazil now has been exposed, to itself as much as to anyone else, as a country with some baseball tradition and a huge potential talent pool into which it could tap. That’s the kind of success I’m sure that wise old man Bud Selig has envisioned.

I feel fortunate to have attended a qualifying game (Brazil vs. Panama in Panama City) and a 2nd round game (Puerto Rico vs USA in Miami) in this WBC, and I can vouch for the passion of the fans at both games. Obviously there were a lot of games played where the attendance numbered only in the hundreds, but I guess that means there’s plenty of room for improvement?

A lot of other good things happened in the 2013 WBC. Here is my top 5, in no particular ranking:

-  A team other than Japan won the championship. Don’t get me wrong, I love Team Japan. I admire their dedication to winning the WBC. I admire how their fans back them. Overall, they have dominated the WBC like no other team, they will likely continue to win future WBC’s because their devotion to it is unmatched. Nevertheless, after winning the first two WBC’s, it was time for someone else to win, and it was good that it was another baseball powerhouse like the Dominican Republic. It helped spread the wealth a little bit, which is what baseball and capitalism are all about.

- The USA wasn’t as successful as they were expected to be, but they didn’t totally bomb out either. The fact is, most American baseball fans still aren’t convinced of the WBC, and it’s not entirely their fault. The timing sucks for both American players and fans, they both need time to get warmed up for baseball. I have all kinds of opinions about how to make the WBC more interesting for Americans, but that will come later. As far as what happened this year to Team USA, they pretty much shook out as well as they could, given it’s a short tournament, with single- and double- elimination rounds that don’t allow you to get comfortable with just one team, plus they pretty much played in away game environments in Phoenix and Miami. They still didn’t make it to the semi-finals or finals, but at least they didn’t bow out in the first round either, like Venezuela did.

- The WBC final’s Caribbean flavor means a lot for baseball, but it meant even more for Puerto Rico to be in that mix. Puerto Rico is the birth place of Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Robbie Alomar, Pudge Rodriguez and countless other MLB legends. Lately, however, the sport has declined on La Isla due to a combination of factors, especially the inclusion of PR into the MLB draft in the last 10 years and the  local winter league barely existing anymore. As a result, Boricuas must have felt like they were getting left behind by their Dominican, Venezuelan, even Dutch Antillean counterparts. Hopefully this run in the WBC helps regain some positive vibration in the local baseball landscape. There are still a lot of challenges to the sport regaining a foothold there, but their 2nd place WBC finish couldn’t have done anything but good.

- The Dominican Republic thoroughly dominated this tournament. Team DR was en fuego the whole way, going 8-0 and showing us why MLB spends way more money farming there than any other country outside of the U.S. From top to bottom, they were the deepest team in the WBC. Their pitching staff, particularly the bullpen, literally owned opposing hitters. Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes finally stepped up and performed to their incredible abilities. Tony Pena really didn’t have to work that hard, because his team came out of the gates with passion from the first game, like they knew the whole time they were destined to win it all. What a contrast from 2009, when they had that top heavy lineup and couldn’t beat the Netherlands, twice. It’s a colossal win for the DR and it will certainly influence future generations of peloteros Dominicanos.

The future of the WBC can be bright, if they don’t screw it up. The safe bet is to leave the current format alone for 2017, but I don’t see MLB doing that. There are talks of  holding the second rounds and finals in the middle of summer instead of playing the All-Star game that year. I’d probably be on board with that because at least that means there’s a chance of more superstars playing in the WBC (especially in the case of Team USA). MLB teams naturally have a concern for players’ injuries, so even then you may not see certain guys playing because of that. Still, it would be A LOT more exciting than watching the All-Star Game.

Between now and late 2016 when the WBC qualifying rounds start, it will be interesting to see how much the sport continues to grow in countries like China, Brazil and South Africa, seeing as how those are the real emerging markets for both baseball talent and potential MLB fans. It will also be interesting to see if and when they move some of the later WBC rounds to locations other than in the U.S. and Japan. Of course, stadium facilities are always a consideration in that regard, but I’d like to see more of those rounds played in places that do have existing and even newer stadiums, such as Mexico and the DR (imagine the finals being played in Monterrey, Mexico or Santo Domingo, DR).

In the final analysis, I thought this was a successful and more interesting WBC than the previous two. Maybe because I followed it more closely, or perhaps because many of the games were close and evenly played, but something about this edition of the WBC, in my opinion, has helped it turn the corner a bit. Maybe not yet in the U.S., but someday Americans will start to care about it as long as their team keeps coming up short.

Where else will you see Manny being Manny? photo credit: elsoldesantiago.com

Season’s greetings from Miami, where the holiday season is in full swing thanks to great family, friends and weather. I hope people have been able to keep up with the awesome Caribbean winter league action going on in places like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama and Colombia. Unfortunately for us in the U.S. (and much of the rest of the world, in fact), not a whole lot of those games are televised on a daily basis outside of their respective countries. You really have to hunt around different live sports streaming sites and individual team websites to find transmissions of the games. ESPN Deportes has carried games from Venezuela and the DR this season, but it’s really only been one night a week for each league.

I personally think someone is missing out on a big opportunity by not carrying more winter ball in general, and the Mexican Pacific League and the Puerto Rico Baseball League in particular. Despite what some critics may say, all of these leagues (especially Venezuela and the DR) still have a fair amount of quality talent with some name recognition.  And with all of the other “ESPN Ocho” tier sports events clogging up much of the day, how could they not be doing a better job of consistently covering winter baseball, especially when it includes guys like Hanley Ramirez, Manny Ramirez, Elvis Andrus, Carlos Zambrano, Carlos Correa, Karim Garcia and Jorge Cantu? Those are obviously just some of the more recognizable names, but the point is that there are also a lot of other up and coming young players in the Caribbean at the moment who’d be worth watching!

The good news is that winter/spring baseball is about to get a lot busier after the new year, with the Caribbean Series in Hermosillo, Mexico coming up in early February, MLB Spring Training also starting up in February and the World Baseball Classic starting its next rounds in early March.

Meanwhile down in Brazil, most baseball has wrapped up for the year. The last major tournament to be played was the 19th Annual Adult Brazil Cup, with Atibaia beating GECEBS to take home the title. Chicago White Sox pitching prospect Andre Rienzo and former Seattle Mariners farmhand Jean Tome, who are also WBC Brazil teammates, both starred for Atibaia.

Rienzo also had a brief appearance in Venezuela this season with the Tiburones de La Guaira.  Paulo Orlando is another notable Brazilian in Venezuela currently getting playing time with the Cardenales de Lara. Super-utility player Yan Gomes (CLE) also spent some time with the Toros del Este in the DR this winter.

This will likely be my last blog post for 2012. Thanks for reading it and sorry I haven’t been able to post as often, but you can always find my more frequently updated 140 character comments on Twitter @BaseballLatAm.

Happy New Year/Feliz Año Nuevo/Feliz Ano Novo!

Ralph Avila with Tommy Lasorda - photo credit: zimbio.com

Watching the Detroit Tigers knock the Yankees out of the playoffs last night made me appreciate how much Latin talent was in both dugouts and bullpens. Think of all the names you heard last night: Cabrera, Martinez, Peralta, Ordoñez, Santiago, Benoit, and Valverde for the Tigers. Cano, Posada, Rodriguez, Garcia and Rivera for the Yankees. One name should really jump out at you, if not for the player then definitely for the player’s family: Avila. 

Alex Avila has been a great addition to this year’s Tigers team, he has done a tremendous job with a very talented pitching staff, and has handled the bat very well too. What’s even more impressive about Avila is that he is from one of the most respected Latin baseball families, and you probably wouldn’t even know it by the way he carries himself. 

It’s true that Alex’s father, Al Avila, is the assistant GM for the Tigers, and many could claim nepotism that the Tigers drafted his son. Given Alex’s performances thus far this season though, that draft pick now seems like a pretty good idea regardless of what his last name is. But Al Avila isn’t just another baseball executive. He and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski have already had experience in building World Series championship teams with the Florida Marlins, and Al is considered one of the top Latin operations directors in the game.

But it doesn’t stop there. The real interesting story in the Avila family is Al’s father, Ralph, a longtime Latin baseball scout for the Dodgers.  Ralph’s story starts in Cuba, where he helped to overthrow the military dictatorship in the 50’s, only to see his political party lose out to Castro and the Communists. So Ralph left Cuba and then went back in the Bay of Pigs invasion. When that didn’t work out, he settled in Miami and started coaching and scouting baseball players.

It was Dodgers GM Al Campanis who hired Ralph in the early 70’s to start scouting Latin America, and eventually run its baseball academy in the Dominican Republic. You can probably credit Ralph Avila for just about every Dominican (if not overall Latin) player the Dodgers have brought through their system in the last 30+ years, including the likes of Pedro Martinez and Adrian Beltre. In fact, Ralph was the one who signed Beltre.

So when you watch Alex Avila playing against Beltre and the Texas Rangers in the ALCS, hopefully the irony will not be lost on you that Alex’s grandfather had a part in both of their careers.

Logo credit - IBAF

In case you missed it, the 39th IBAF Baseball World Cup begins play in Panama this Oct. 1.  The following teams will be participating: Australia, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, United States, and Venezuela.

Notable countries that will not be participating include Mexico, Colombia, Chinese Taipei, South Africa and Brazil. 

Some teams have already been playing warm up games in Panama this week. The tournament will be held in four different Stadiums: Rod Carew (Panama City), Remon Canteras (Aguadulce), Rico Cedeño (Chitre), and Omar Torrijos (Santiago de Veraguas). More information can be found on the XXXIX Baseball World Cup Website.