Organization is nurturing Latin connection

Scouting system yields dividends for club's future

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, April 2, 2007

Ten years ago, the Rockies were a nonfactor in Latin America.

Their Latin America complex consisted of a two-bedroom house in the Dominican Republic that was cluttered with bedrolls for the few players the Rockies had signed.

Oh, how things have changed.

Now, the Rockies are among the upper echelon in their Latin impact.

With a farm system ranked anywhere from second best to fifth best in baseball, there is a definite Latin flavor to the Rockies' list of top prospects.

Latin players filled 10 of the 30 spots in Baseball America's ranking of the players in the Rockies system, including left- handed pitcher Franklin Morales, rated No. 2 behind shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

Before the emergence of this group of players, the only Latin players the Rockies originally signed and brought to the majors were shortstops Neifi Perez and Juan Uribe.

"It takes a long time to build a Latin America program, but we now have a solid infrastructure," general manager Dan O'Dowd said.

It hasn't been easy. Ten years ago, the Rockies' budget in Latin America was about $50,000. Now, it exceeds $1 million.

The revamping began in 1999, when Gary Hughes, familiar with the Latin market from his days as a scout with the Yankees, then as the scouting director in Montreal and Florida, was hired by ownership as a special assistant to Bob Gebhard, the team's first general manager.

Hughes was given the mandate to create a Rockies presence in the Caribbean.

The first year, Hughes helped the Rockies get involved with an upgraded Dominican facility they share with Arizona.

There is a dormitory arrangement for housing and a cafeteria to make sure players eat properly.

He also put Rolando Fernandez, an instructor in the system at the time, in charge of the Latin operation.

When Gebhard was fired at the end of that season and O'Dowd took over, he took the program Hughes created and built on it, increasing Fernandez's role to include running the scouting operation in the Caribbean countries.

"For us, the Latin program is integrated into the rest of the organization," said Bill Geivett, vice president of baseball operations. "We treat it just like we treat any of our minor league teams. We send all our roving instructors down there to work with the players, providing consistency in the message we are sending to everyone in our system."

There also is consistency within the Dominican Academy, where the manager is Mauricio Gonzalez and the pitching coach is Edison Lara, both of whom played in the Rockies' minor league system.

"You can have talent, but you then have to develop it, and with Mauricio and Edison. . . . well that's a big part in seeing the players develop," Geivett said.

What's more, in addition to instruction on the field, the Rockies have an emphasis on off-field instruction, too.

It begins with a year-round program in learning English, an effort that allows the Latin players to culturally adapt quicker when they come to the United States.

Most of all, though, the Rockies have created a scouting system that has allowed them to sign players such as Morales and right-handed pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez, Manny Corpas, Juan Morillo, Sam Deduno and Pedro Strop, in addition to a number of position players.

"What our guys have done is find good bodies, live arms, good projections," O'Dowd said.

"The heart and soul of this has been the work of (Fernandez) and the guys he has brought in to work with him, like Felix Feliz (in the Dominican) and Francisco Cartaya (Venezuela)."

Currently, Fernandez has Feliz, Cartaya and four other Latin scouts under his command, and the plan is to expand efforts in Mexico, where the Rockies made a major inroad by hiring Vinny Castilla as a special assistant to O'Dowd.

Fernandez said a key has been the help he has received from the Rockies front office.

"I had never scouted before I was put in this role, but the Rockies gave me support with people like (scouting director) Bill Schmidt and (scout) Jack Gillis, who has been my mentor, and Danny Montgomery," Fer- nandez said.

"They stress finding that loose, clean arm action and the importance of finding a player with a projectable body.

"They say you have to see a 17-year-old and dream about what he will look like when he is 21, 22."