Investments in international players like Pirates’ Gift Ngoepe match up with MLB’s vision
PITTSBURGH 无毛视频� The Pirates have only been playing for a few months in 2017, and they无毛视频檝e already made a bunch of baseball history.
On Wednesday, infielder Gift Ngoepe made his debut as the first player born in South Africa and first player from any African nation to play Major League Baseball.
Two days before that, relief pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas became the first Lithuanian to suit up for a big-league ball club.
The Pirates already had Jung Ho Kang (South Korea) on the roster, plus two Venezuelans (Jose Osuna and Felipe Rivero, six Dominicans (Antonio Bastardo, Alen Hanson, Starling Marte, Juan Nicasio, Ivan Nova and Gregory Polanco) and a Venezuelan-Italian (Francisco Cervelli). Also, Jameson Taillon has dual citizenship with Canada.
In the 2017 World Baseball Classic this spring, Polanco and Marte played for the Dominican Republic and Cervelli for Italy while Josh Harrison and Andrew McCutchen played for Team USA. There无毛视频檚 more coming in the minor leagues, as Pirates farmhands Luis Escobar (Colombia), Sam Street (Australia) and Eric Wood (Canada) all played in this year无毛视频檚 WBC.
Acquired as teenagers in 2008 and 2009, respectively, it took quite a while for the Pirates无毛视频� investments in Ngoepe and Neverauskas to pay off. But finding talent in less-scouted areas is a place the Pirates have placed a lot of focus on under general manager Neal Huntington, and it shows in the international nature of the team无毛视频檚 clubhouse and minor-league system.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 a fabulous organizational win for everyone,无毛视频� manager Clint Hurdle said on Wednesday.
Of course, all of the Pirates dalliances with baseball players with unique backgrounds haven无毛视频檛 been success stories. Indian pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel of 无毛视频淢illion Dollar Arm无毛视频� fame didn无毛视频檛 pan out. But with the competitive balance in Major League Baseball what it is, a team like the Pirates would do well to continue mining those less-covered grounds for talent.
It also dovetails nicely with commissioner Rob Manfred无毛视频檚 international view of the game that has seen the league do a better job of marketing opportunities like the WBC to international audiences in hopes of growing the sport beyond the borders of traditional strongholds like the United States, Dominican Republic and Japan.
无毛视频淭he internationalization of the game is an important issue for Major League Baseball moving forward,无毛视频� Manfred said in a visit to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. 无毛视频淚t is for all businesses. Our ability to attract great athletes from other countries promotes diversity in the game. It is the single best way to grow interest in the game in foreign countries. If you have one of your athletes playing, that无毛视频檚 the best way to grow the game in a foreign country.无毛视频�
In that regard, the Pirates have certainly done their part. Now, 1.216 billion Africans and 2.91 million Lithuanians have had one of their own don the black and gold. There无毛视频檚 hope from each that they won无毛视频檛 be the last, either.
无毛视频淚 hope for better opportunities and to see that baseball can be played in Lithuania,无毛视频� Neverauskas said. 无毛视频淪omeone can follow in my footsteps.无毛视频�
无毛视频淚t means a lot to people back home. I无毛视频檝e been getting messages all day from people back home,无毛视频� Ngoepe said. 无毛视频淚t means that it doesn无毛视频檛 matter where you come from. It doesn无毛视频檛 matter where you are, who you are, what country you无毛视频檙e in. There无毛视频檚 no separation culture or anything like that.无毛视频�
In this country, baseball has long been surpassed by football when it comes to popularity, but if the Pirates and Manfred get their way, America无毛视频檚 pastime might become a truly international game.