MLB Cancels Dominican Showcase

Major League Baseball informed teams tonight that it has cancelled its Dominican national showcase, which was scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.

In response to a report that MLB is pushing to implement an international draft and raise the signing age, among other international reforms, trainers and players in the Dominican Republic planned to protest by having the players who were invited skip the showcase.

While it’s unknown how many players would have shown up had MLB continued with the showcase, several trainers were adamant that their players would not have attended the event. That decision drew the strong displeasure of MLB officials, who tried to get lesser prospects not on the original roster to show up as replacement players before ultimately canceling the showcase tonight.

In notifying teams of the cancellation, MLB wrote to clubs that “due to the lack of cooperation from the independent trainers, the Dominican Republic National Showcase has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

Following the cancellation announcement, a group known as the independent association of trainers of Latin America made the following statement: “We do not consider this a victory. We are not against MLB in any way, shape or form. We appreciate everything MLB has done. This is not a fight against MLB, this is a fight against the draft.”

The showcase typically features many of the prominent Dominican amateur prospects who are 15 and 16 years old and will become eligible to sign beginning on July 2, 2017. The protest was only for MLB events, so teams will continue to scout players at trainers’ fields, at their own academies (if the player is 16 and thus eligible to enter the academy) and in trainer-organized leagues, including a four-day Dominican Prospect League tournament that concluded today.

The next major MLB event in Latin America is its annual Venezuelan national showcase, which is scheduled for Nov. 16-17 in Panama.