Editorials

Dodgers Make Changes In International Scouting Department

Dodger Stadium 6

The Los Angeles Dodgers made headlines Monday night as they made an announcement regarding the international part of their scouting department. The team announced they parted ways with a significant amount of members from the department.



The biggest name that was let go happened to be the vice president of the department, Bob Engle. The Dodgers hired Engle in 2012 after he had been working in the Seattle Mariners’ organization previously for eight years.

Some other international names involved in the departure are Patrick Guerrero, the Dodgers’ scouting coordinator in Latin America and Franklin Taveras, the club’s scouting director in the Dominican Republic.

Guerrero made a public comment about his release on Monday, stating that he spoke with the front office of the Dodgers and he understood their decision. According to Jesse Sanchez and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Guerrero claimed that this is baseball and a part of the process:

The only explanation I got was that they wanted to go in a different direction and nothing else. I understand. That’s baseball.”

The Dodgers also have let go of Joseph Reaves, the director of international and Minor League relations. Reaves was added to the front office staff in 2007 after being a longtime sportswriter in the Arizona community.

The last names to be mentioned in the release are Rafael Colon, the special advisor for international performance; Hidenori Sueyoshi, senior manager of international scouting; and Bruce Hurst, the Latin America field coordinator. Sueyoshi and Colon were hired prior to the 2013 season and Hurst was signed in March of 2015.

The group under Guerrero was busy this season, as the scouts were assertive in their process of signing international prospects like Yadier Alvarez, who was ranked second on the Top 30 International Prospects List. Guerrero also was able to sign Starling Heredia, Ronny Brito, Christopher Arias, and Oneal Cruz all when the international signing period began on July 2nd.

The Dodgers spent well over their allowed slotted value during the signing period, so they will face the maximum penalty and will be limited in their next two signing periods.

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Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

One Comment

  1. The Dodgers signed enough international players this summer for the next 3 years. Of course they don’t need these scouts anymore…

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