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It is a Saturday morning and you have caught a break. The GCL Phillies are playing the GCL Tigers in a 10 o'clock game, so it is no more than 88 degrees when a thin, 6-4 righthander named Mi-guel Matos throws his first pitch.
Arrayed behind the 20-year-old from Azua, Dominican Republic, is an infield of first baseman Luis Arzeno, 23, DR; second baseman Harold Garcia, 21, Venezuela; shortstop Lendy Castillo, 19, DR; third baseman Yonderman Rodriguez, 21, Venezuela; catcher Sebastian Valle, 17, Mexico.
The youngest player on the field is also the most impressive. Valle takes charge of the game from Matos' first four-seamer, chirping encouragement to his pitcher, directing traffic on pop fouls. "He's got a nice feel for the game," says longtime organizational pitching coach Carlos Arroyo. Valle also weighs about a buck-65. But that's OK, Darren Daulton came to his first camp down here packing 155 pounds on his bony frame.
Arroyo, the acting manager, started an outfield of rightfielder Vladimir De Los Santos, 21, DR; centerfielder Leandro Castro, 19, DR; leftfielder Fabio Yuris Murakami, 20, Brazil.
Say again? Brazil? Murakami? "Sal Agostinelli [director international scouting] signed him out of an academy down there," Arroyo said. So, does the coaching staff address Fabio-san in Japanese or Portuguese? "English," Arroyo grinned. "Fabio speaks three languages very well."
Oh, yes, the DH. Even though the rule the National League has stonewalled for 39 years is alien to its culture, everybody uses it in the Gulf Coast League. James Murphy, a 6-4, 240-pound first baseman from Washington State taken in the 17th round of this June's draft, did the honors. Starting lineup: nine Latinos and James Murphy.
Many GCL teams have a lopsided Latino presence at this stage of the rookie short-season league schedule. While the Phillies' roster is dominated by kids from their academies in the Dominican and Venezuela, some have been playing ball 12/365 since signing contracts negotiated by their buscones - scout/agents who command a big chunk of a kid's bonus. There are currently 37 teams playing in the Dominican Summer League, with more than 1,400 players under contract. A number of teams now field two teams at their complexes. The Venezuelan Summer League does not involve such an amazing number of players, but it is significant. Nineteen members of the Phillies' GCL roster are academy alums. In other words, they are the lucky ones who got precious visas to come to the United States to officially start at the bottom rung of the ladder.
I spoke with Arroyo at a 16-0 rout of a Detroit club on which most of the players were middle-round college types. The Tigers' lineup looked like DH Tryout Day. Meanwhile, the Phillies are getting ready to unleash teenaged outfielders Zach Collier, drafted 34th overall this month, and Anthony Gose, 51st overall. A second-round pick from North Jersey, teen power arm Jason Knapp is also here being indoctrinated and has impressed Arroyo with his sheer size and velocity.
That trio will collect more in bonus money than the Phillies' total 2008 budget for international players. It is the answer to a question Dallas Green asked aloud one afternoon while a squad of massive Tampa Bay Rays prospects longballed a smallish collection of rookie-league Phils. "They keep telling me we're signing bigger guys with some pop," Green grumbled, "but I don't see it."
The GCL Phils were playing on the Robin Roberts diamond at the complex named for Bob Carpenter and Paul Owens. It is less than 1,000 feet to home plate at Bright House Field, where the Phillies' varsity trains and the high-A Clearwater Threshers play. It might as well be 1,000 miles. At best it is a 2-year walk. Most will never heft their equipment bags and make the liberating hike that will put them three levels closer to The Show. Of the pitchers Arroyo worked with here in recent years, only Venezuelan Carlos Carrasco has made it as high as Double A Reading.
Climbing up the rungs of the slippery ladder, the Latino attrition rate is numbing. There isn't a projectable position player from the Caribbean Rim on any of the Phils' four full-season teams.
This is a critical deficiency. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela are free markets exempt from the amateur draft. You can't say, "Well, the player was gone by the time we picked." Cash moves the market in the DR and VZ. You make your own slot.
The Phillies had about $1 million to spend on international bonuses this year. Contrast the Mets, who went into the North Coast golf town of Rio San Juan in 2005 and gave 16-year-old outfielder Fernando Martinez a DR-record $1.4 million bonus. And he's knocking on the big-club door. Then they land Venezuelan blue-chip righthander Deolis Guerra. There are no commissioner's guidelines to violate in the non-draft countries, no pecking order - only good, old-fashioned, free enterprise at work.
Hard to believe, Harry, more than 40 years ago the Phillies had Tony Taylor, Cookie Rojas, Tony Gonzalez and Ruben Amaro. Hard to believe the last Latino impact player to come through their farm system was Juan Samuel a quarter of a century ago.
Sammy will become the 30th member of the Phillies' Wall of Fame on Aug. 8. Isn't it past time for the organization to break the long drought and sign a player with Samuel's sizzling salsa skills? *
Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com.
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