David Ortiz, the most prominent voice in Dominican baseball, says he is open to the idea of an international draft but is wary of its implementation before receiving significant input from players past and present.
The draft proposed by Major League Baseball, which has become a flashpoint as the league and the MLB Players Association try to strike a deal that would end the MLB's lockout of players, needs a long runway for implementation, according to a phone conversation with ESPN.
The system in the Dominican Republic is not ready for a draft. A new president is trying to improve things. We need to do it slowly.
The draft system proposed by MLB would begin in 2024. Each team in the league would pick in the top seven or eight in the draft in order to give them equitable access to top amateur talent. Undrafted players could sign for a maximum of $20,000 in the 20 rounds of the draft. International picks could be traded.
The draft system would guarantee more money for international talent than the current process, in which international amateurs are free agents who can sign with any team but are limited by a hard cap that topped out in the 2021-22 signing class at $6.26 million for eight teams.
The age at which players can join organizations is 16 years old, though teams often enter into multimillion-dollar agreements with children as young as 12 and 13. MLB believes a draft will curb the corruption that is rife in the international market, with early signings, financial kickbacks and trainers giving performance-enhancing drugs to teenage boys among the foremost issues.
According to sources, the union's rank-and-file support for an international draft is mixed. The removal of direct draft-pick compensation was tied to the league's implementation, according to sources.
The league and the union have issues that are holding up a deal that would end the lockout, sources said.
The international market has become a vital part of the game, with a higher proportion of minor leaguers from Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
The current stars to sign as international free agents are Shohei Ohtani.
The first week of games was canceled by MLB, and they told players that the second week would be canceled if a deal wasn't reached by Tuesday. After 17 hours of talks that ended early Wednesday, the league agreed to wait for a proposal from the MLBPA before canceling more games.
In a voice message sent to a group chat that has been widely shared in Dominican baseball circles, Ortiz encouraged others to lead a strong campaign against the draft.
In a follow-up conversation, he said that he was wary of the consequences of a draft, but that he understood the benefits. He said that a longer runway would allow the voices of on-the-ground principals to be considered.
It makes more sense to take time. The big-time players are with us. We listen to what they have to say. Let's do it right if we are going to do it. It's not right to rush it.
Baseball is a big thing in the Dominican. Kids don't go off the streets because of baseball. We want that to stay with us. We want it to be better. My focus is that. Nothing else. The youth are with us. People want to be me, Pedro and Albert. We cannot let that go away.
I don't want those kids to be affected by it. I've played baseball before. I had a job. I want the kids to be treated well. I understand that MLB wants to have control over everything, but you are not going to change the system overnight. The Dominican economy has a secret weapon. You have choices if you talk about a draft in the states. You can play football and basketball. There are no choices in the D.R. The Dominican has a baseball. That is it. You have to be careful.
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