Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Drafting Dilemmas
For a young prospect in the Dominican Republic the financial incentives of just being draf-
ted, let alone actually playing a single game, in the major leagues are considerable. The av-
erage bonus (US$100,000) alone can provide a down payment on a home and provide for
family members. However, the odds are overwhelmingly against success - only 3% of
those signed make it to the majors - and when a young teenager pins their hopes on base-
ball (players are eligible for recruitment at 16), education usually falls by the wayside.
A series of high-profile issues have arisen, complicating the often incestuous relationship
between Dominican baseball and the major leagues. Nearly every team has an academy
here - a mix of university dormitory, work camp and health club. Problems include steroid
use, which isn't technically illegal in the DR, fake birth certificates intentionally misstating
a player's age (younger to overstate potential and older to allow recruitment) and the in-
creasingly questionable role that unregulated buscones play in the whole system. Taken
from the Spanish verb ' buscar,' to look for, buscones are more than merely scouts. They
train, feed, house and educate promising players, grooming them to be signed by the ma-
jors in the hopes of one day gaining a large percentage of whatever signing bonus their pro-
spects earn.
One in six of the 471 Dominicans who played at least one game in the major leagues up to 2008
(the most recent, reliable count) came from San Pedro de MacorĂ­s.
According to critics, the legacy of this homegrown corruption helps explains why more
than 50% of players caught violating the major league's drug policy since 2007 are Domin-
icans (the most high profile case of course involves the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez who is of
Dominican descent).
 
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