Over on the minor league forum, M2 mentioned that the Reds have some players who hail from eastern Eurpope in their minor leagues. As a casual observer of the minor leagues I was a bit surprised that there are players from that area in organized baseball - although I shouldn't be.
My question is, and this is mainly for you guys who have coached teens, can you get kids who have not played baseball - organized or unorganized - from a foreign country who are athletic (excels in soccer, hockey, basketball) and turn them into big leaguers?
We know it can be done with kids from the Dominican who play on the streets as little kids with broomsticks and bottlecaps but they know how the game is played and they develop those instincts: throwing to the right base, hitting to the opposite field, hitting the cutoff man, mixing up your pitches, baserunning, etc. All those things that have been burned into our skulls since Little League. We've seen kids from Taiwan dominate the Little League World Series but they have Little League there and in Japan and other foreign countries.
Is it possible, with the right coaching, to get some teen age athletes who have zero experience playing baseball but are athletically gifted to be good ballplayers or are they always going to be held back because of their lack of instincts for the game? If they can, there could be a whole untapped market out there for foreign players
Originally Posted by Raisor
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