The St Louis Post Dispatch has an interesting article about baseball acadamies, corruption, and buscones in the Domincan Republic. Quoted in the article is Detroit Tigers assistant GM Al Avila.
Avila’s father, Ralph, helped the Los Angeles Dodgers establish a foothold in the Dominican as a scout and executive 30 years ago. The Dodgers subsequently built the nation’s most impressive academy. (The academy was forced to close for one year when the club was found to have signed Adrian Beltre before his 16th birthday.)
“It’s a different system than in the United States,” Avila said. “You have to operate within that system. Certainly there are elements you would like to change. And things have changed to an extent. But it’s still different.”