Nassau July Bonus PR: Where ya from?

Dookie summoned the , so I will follow up and use this as my PR for the month, and I realize I still owe a Part 2 on IFA contributions, too.

Link to the charts in a Google doc

BSA Player Country of Origin

Also, a quick stab at how many countries are currently represented in each team's org:

On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 11:53 AM, Dookie Shoes <dookieshoes808@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't care about points but I already did July so this will be June belated.

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Springfield called an absurd number of players up from their international complex this offseason. Approximately 30 players I believe, ranging from 17-19 years old. GM Shoes is interested in seeing if any teenagers can hack it at all, and was frankly tired of supporting these freeloaders. It's time they earned their keep and made something of themselves. There are ~20 players remaining in the complex, and all but one or two of them are guys signed in the 2028 season, so they will be given 1-2 years to work hard and develop before being tested against other opponents.

Team performance in rookie ball is not a concern for Shoes, we're more interested in seeing which guys can put together enough of a well rounded season to give hope that they might one day contribute at a higher level. Springfield's scout is a bit of a dummy, so every player will be given a shot since we really have no idea who is legit.

The point of this PR is to see what type of nationalities make up the lower leagues of the Springfield organization now that they have seen an influx of IFA guys.  Apologies to all for the crude charts, we cannot all be Jordan Calhoun.

Rookie Ball (Pittsburgh Killa Beez)

The Killa Beez are truly the melting pot of the organization, and perhaps of the entire rookie league. The team is made up of 35 players, all teenagers.  11 countries are represented throughout the team, with the more unusual being two South Africans and a Frenchman.  Venezuela takes the largest portion of the pie, with 12 of 35 players coming from the South American country. This surprised me, as I would have guessed Dominican Republic to be the main source of players looking to baseball to give them a shot at a new life. Alternate universe pitchers like Antonio Senzatela of the Rockies and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners do indicate that perhaps Venezuela has a much stronger foothold in the baseball world than I realized. One final note, only a measly 4 Americans play rookie ball for Springfield, with 3/4ths of them taken in the first few rounds of the last couple amateur drafts. Quality over quantity as far as the US born players go, I suppose.

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Single A team Lee's Summit also consists of 35 players* (with the addition of Rien Middelkamp), almost none of which are teenagers. What this means is the diversity shown in rookie ball has not yet filtered up into single A. The Tigers are largely dominated by Americans, and perhaps this concentration on local talent is what has allowed them to build their 56-44 record. I wonder if OOTP accounts for the challenges of learning a new language. relocating countries, leaving family and friends, and adapting to a new culture.I doubt it, but it's possible there is a bedding in period that US players do not have to struggle through. Either way, here is the (far less exciting) makeup of the single A Lee's Summit Tigers.

Single A (Lee's Summit Tigers)

I hesitated to include single A at all, but I think it is important for record keeping. Around this time in 2029 and 2030, I'd like to revisit this and check out the nationalities present on Lee's Summit to give me an idea of which players made it and which players sadly never fought their way out of rookie ball.

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The remaining nationalities present throughout the Springfield organization that have not yet been mentioned include: Taiwan (AAA), Japan (AAA), Italy (AAA), South Korea (3 in BSA, soon to be 2), Cuba (4 in BSA), and China (BSA).

Final Note: I wonder if Robo Dave has a way where he could find out all nationalities represented throughout the BSA universe, and even percentages/number of players from each country. I think that would be very interesting. My guess would be 1. USA, 2. DR, 3. Venezuela, but then after that I'd have a really tough time picking which countries would round out the top five. Any guesses?

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