Baseball is the national pastime in the Dominican Republic, and the passion for the sport thrives in cities like Santiago, San Cristobal, San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo and in every small town in between.
Now, prospects in those regions will get a chance to compete against each other for fun and bragging rights in front of big league scouts.
The inaugural Trainer Partnership Program’s Regional Tournament launched Tuesday with a workout for prospects at Estadio Cibao in Santiago on the northern part of the island. The prospects, all participants in the Trainer Partnership Program, will be divided into four teams and play a tournament this later this week.
Later this month, the East Region workout and a tournament is scheduled at Estadio Tetelo Vargas in San Pedro de Macoris, and in San Cristobal at Estadio Temistocles for the South Region players. There’s a workout and tournament in Santo Domingo for Central Region prospects in May and tournament final for the four regional winners in June after the Draft.
The Trainer Partnership Program Regional Tournament will also feature prospects from Venezuela who are part of the Trainer Partnership Program. In all, more than 300 prospects are expected to participate in the tournament.
“We’re very excited to kick off this event, which is the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication between MLB and our partner trainers,” said Morgan Sword, MLB’s senior vice president of league economics and operations. “We’re heartened that so many trainers have committed to working with us and developing their players in a safe environment, and it’s great to watch these players compete as they represent their hometowns and showcase their talents.”
The Trainer Partnership Program, created last summer as part of MLB's overall efforts in Latin America, has held four showcases for prospects from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela since the program began. In February, prospects from both countries were featured in the same event at the Mets' academy in the Dominican Republic.
Those showcases featured a 60-yard run, infield and outfield drills, batting practice and games. The events -- a partnership with USA Baseball -- also featured cameras that measured exit velocity, launch angle, ball spin and projected distance as well as bat speed, barrel speed and other swing analysis metrics during batting practice. In addition to TrackMan data, types of pitches, velocity and spin rate were also recorded.
In all, there are more than 1,100 players, 28 trainers from Venezuela and 39 trainers from the Dominican Republic participating in the Training Partnership Program. Among its many initiatives, the partnership includes a focus on prospect registration, age and identity verification and drug testing.