Earlier this month, Pedro Martinez expressed to the Dominican media some concerns over some of MLB’s practices regarding international signings. Here’s what he had to say.
Last fall a Sports Illustrated report revealed that the DOJ had launched an investigation into the practice of MLB’s international signings. Now, earlier this month, Hall of Fame pitcher and ambassador of the game Pedro Martinez has, in some way, joined the fray.
Published on May 1, 2019 in El Día, a Dominican news outlet, Pedro is quoted saying,
"“This is a delicate issue. I am not in agreement with the signing of children aged 12 and 13-years-old because they’re being robbed of their eductation and from the love of their family… Nobody should think that a child should be working hours made for men."
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Last October, I reported on a story about a Dominican ”buscón” (scout) by the name of Rudy Santín who also alleged what Martinez is expressing concern over. However, Mr. Santín didn’t just accuse MLB scouts of signing players as young as 13 years of age, he expressed concern over Dominican scouts encouraging these children to use performance enhancers in order to get noticed.
In the most recent data found by The World Bank, the Dominican Republic’s poverty rate was at 30.5% in 2016. With academies opening around the island on a regular basis, children and their families are seeing baseball primarily as a way out.
In signing children aged 12 – 14, an environment is created in the children are shouldering all the pressure to get their families in a better financial situation. In these extreme situations, as Mr. Santín hinted, “they have to do some things“.
While the DOJ’s investigation into the practice of MLB’s international signings focuses primarily on the human trafficking side of things, perhaps its time that an investigation is opened into the abuse of children.
And baseball should do its part by heeding the message of their ambassador Pedro Martinez in swiftly forbidding the signing of children aged 12 – 14 years old.