Lazarito

[The Cats Ass]

It could be Puerto Rico players just haven't been as good lately. The better players could be moving at a young age to the DR or somewhere else.

 

It says there's an academy and that 70 players have been drafted after graduating and more than 400 have gone to play in college. Players have been coming out of PR. The only problem is that they suck.

[KingKat]

It could be Puerto Rico players just haven't been as good lately. The better players could be moving at a young age to the DR or somewhere else.

 

It says there's an academy and that 70 players have been drafted after graduating and more than 400 have gone to play in college. Players have been coming out of PR. The only problem is that they suck.

 

Which suggest that they were developed a lot better when they were drafted as kids.

[Grant77]

It could be Puerto Rico players just haven't been as good lately. The better players could be moving at a young age to the DR or somewhere else.

 

It says there's an academy and that 70 players have been drafted after graduating and more than 400 have gone to play in college. Players have been coming out of PR. The only problem is that they suck.

 

That's very possible. I wasn't trying to make any conclusions, but some of the arguments are pretty logical and the results are striking. Without a solid development system in high school, I think players are at a disadvantage having to wait.

[The Cats Ass]

Which suggest that they were developed a lot better when they were drafted as kids.

 

Ones with tallent are still developing. How many great PR players were in the league at any one time before they were lumped in the draft? Next year there will be Yadier Molina, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, along with a dozen more.

 

The difference in the number of PR players that have debut hasn't changed much between now and then. Maybe a couple players a year. And that could be because there are more players coming in from other places taking their place, like Canada and Southeast Asia.

[Grant77]

Ones with tallent are still developing. How many great PR players were in the league at any one time before they were lumped in the draft? Next year there will be Yadier Molina, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, along with a dozen more.

 

The difference in the number of PR players that have debut hasn't changed much between now and then. Maybe a couple players a year. And that could be because there are more players coming in from other places taking their place, like Canada and Southeast Asia.

 

Let's use 1998 as an example:

 

Ivan Rodriguez

Roberto Alomar

Sandy Alomar Jr.

Carlos Delgado

Edgar Martinez

Juan Gonzalez

Jose Vidro

Jorge Posada

Javy Lopez

Bernie Williams

Benito Santiago

Javier Vazquez

Carlos Beltran

Carlos Baerga

Joey Cora

Alex Cora

Wil Cordero

Jose Cruz Jr.

Roberto Hernandez

Ricky Ledee

Mike Lowell

Orlando Merced

Bengie Molina

Jaime Navarro

Omar Olivares

 

Those are just the names that I thought were most notable (10+ year careers). With all due respect, the dropoff in talent isn't what is up for debate.

[The Cats Ass]

Let's use 1998 as an example:

 

Ivan Rodriguez

Roberto Alomar

Sandy Alomar Jr.

Carlos Delgado

Edgar Martinez

Juan Gonzalez

Jose Vidro

Jorge Posada

Javy Lopez

Bernie Williams

Benito Santiago

Javier Vazquez

Carlos Beltran

Carlos Baerga

Joey Cora

Alex Cora

Wil Cordero

Jose Cruz Jr.

Roberto Hernandez

Ricky Ledee

Mike Lowell

Orlando Merced

Bengie Molina

Jaime Navarro

Omar Olivares

 

Those are just the names that I thought were most notable (10+ year careers). With all due respect, the dropoff in talent isn't what is up for debate.

 

Not sure what you were trying to do with this list. But of those players...

Jorge Posada

Jose Vidro

Javier Vazquez

Carlos Beltran

Joey Cora

Alex Cora

Jose Cruz Jr.

Roberto Hernandez

Ricky Ledee

Mike Lowell

Jaime Navarro

 

Were all draft prospects.

 

1998 was the year that had the largest amount of Puerto Rican rookie debuts. But the draft was implemented in 1990. Which means most of those players would have came from the draft.

[Grant77]

Not sure what you were trying to do with this list. But of those players...

Jorge Posada

Jose Vidro

Javier Vazquez

Carlos Beltran

Joey Cora

Alex Cora

Jose Cruz Jr.

Roberto Hernandez

Ricky Ledee

Mike Lowell

Jaime Navarro

 

Were all draft prospects.

 

1998 was the year that had the largest amount of Puerto Rican rookie debuts. But the draft was implemented in 1990. Which means most of those players would have came from the draft.

 

Remove those players if you wish, you're still left with considerably more talent than there is in the league today. As I said, there is no debate that the talent level has fallen off considerably. The reason for that decline is what is not clearly understood.

 

There simply isn't any comparison. What exactly are you trying to prove?

[Laika]

Not sure what you were trying to do with this list. But of those players...

Jorge Posada

Jose Vidro

Javier Vazquez

Carlos Beltran

Joey Cora

Alex Cora

Jose Cruz Jr.

Roberto Hernandez

Ricky Ledee

Mike Lowell

Jaime Navarro

 

Were all draft prospects.

 

1998 was the year that had the largest amount of Puerto Rican rookie debuts. But the draft was implemented in 1990. Which means most of those players would have came from the draft.

 

It's not like baseball would have died instantly when PR was swallowed by the draft. The culture has slowly declined. It would have taken a generation to happen, because you'd need a new crop of youngsters who, when faced with the new system, either fail or decide to do other things. Most of the guys on your list here were teenagers when the rules were changed, so they were already invested in the baseball route to whatever extent.