http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/122006/12182006/244676

THE GAME IS THE CURRICULUM Nats' Dominican academy instructs and recruits
BASEBALL IN DECEMBER DAY 2


The Nationals want to establish a presence on the island.
Date published: 12/18/2006
By TODD JACOBSON


AN CRISTOBAL, Dominican Republic--While the sun is still low in the sky and
the heat is still manageable, Jose Rijo pulls his gleaming red convertible
Mercedes into the baseball academy he built atop a hill near the southern
coast of the Dominican Republic.

He has a pipe in his mouth and handshakes and hugs for everyone.

Rijo, a special assistant to Nationals general manager Jim Bowden and the man
behind the team's operations in the Dominican Republic, has a house on the
southern coast of this island, but he might as well be home here.

He built Loma Del Sueño--literally translated as Hill of Dreams--seven years
ago at a cost of approximately $10 million, and the seven-field compound
shared by the Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres is the center of the
Nationals' renewed scouting effort in the Dominican Republic.

In this baseball-crazed country, the Nationals' baseball academy is one place
where the dreams of a rebuilding organization, its boisterous Dominican
kingpin and dozens of hopeful Dominican teenagers converge.

"We know the only way to leave the country is by swinging or throwing," said
Rijo, who grew up in San Cristobal and pitched 14 years in the big leagues.

So yesterday morning, 38 hopeful prospects arrived at the Nationals' complex
carrying bats and gloves for a tryout camp run by Dana Brown, the Nationals'
director of amateur scouting. New manager Manny Acta was there to watch the
prospects, as was Rijo.

The pitchers were monitored with a radar gun, and the hitters were timed in
the 60-yard dash, fielded ground balls and took batting practice.

After three hours of drills, Brown said seven players have emerged as
prospects, including 17-year-old Raudy Almonte, a 6-foot-5 left-handed
pitcher, and Jorge Soto, a lanky 17-year-old outfielder.

With Acta--who grew up in Consuelo to the east of the team's complex--and
Rijo on board, the Nationals want to establish a presence on the island.

This is a good start.

"The Cowboys were America's team. We would like to be the world's team,"
Nationals general manager Jim Bowden said. "We want to dominate the Dominican
Republic.

"With Manny Acta being the only active Dominican manager in baseball and with
Rijo leading the way, we want to end up dominating. We want every young boy
wanting to be a Washington National."

As a source of baseball players, the Dominican Republic is no secret.

Since Ozzie Virgil was signed 53 years ago by the then-New York Giants,
thousands of Dominicans have played in the majors.

Baseball isn't just the pastime here; it's life for many of the island's
inhabitants--the main sport played from the streets and alleys to the
stadiums, which host thousands of frenzied fans for competitive winter
leagues.

Almost every major league team has an academy in the Dominican Republic, and
according to Major League Baseball, approximately one out of eight big
leaguers comes from the Dominican. About 33 percent of minor leaguers come
from the island.

All-stars like Alfonso Soriano, David Ortiz and Vladimir Guerrero call the
Dominican Republic home.

No wonder the Nationals want to stake their claim.

"[The organization] wanted to get active here again and be aggressive," Brown
said. "You can't do it alone through the draft. When you look at the draft,
there are 30 other teams picking. When you look down here, it's who is being
most aggressive."

Making a splash
Shortstop Esmailyn Gonzalez is the jewel of the Nationals' Dominican
operations.

The 16-year-old was signed to a $1.4 million contract during the summer, a
move made as much for Gonzalez's slick fielding abilities and hitting
potential as for the ripple effect it had across the island.

The Nationals, which had virtually no presence on the island from 2002 to
2004 because of budgetary restraints and the threat of contraction, were
players again.

"It was like a big bang that the Nationals are for real," Brown said.

People noticed.

Brown was expecting about a dozen players for yesterday's tryout, but more
than three times that many showed up, most brought to the camp by buscones ,
or finders--controversial figures who control the talent pool and act as
agents for the players.

The message was clear.

"The Nationals have definitely made an impression," buscón Jose Cano said.

Cano brought two players nearly two hours from San Pedro de Macoris for the
Nationals to take a look at.

"If they know that you're not a player they're not going to show their
player," Brown said. "The buscones will take their players to the Yankees or
the Mets or the other clubs that are spending the money. They know that if
they bring a top player to you and you're not going to be able to afford it,
it's like, 'Why bring him?'"

Money is one thing, but scouting in the Dominican Republic is as much about
relationships as it is about finances. With the rewards so high, competition
is fierce for players.

Rijo established a relationship with Gonzalez and was able to sway him to
sign with the Nationals over the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, and
Acta's hiring as the team's new manager increases the team's profile on the
island even more.

"Having me and having a plan where we are going to spend more on player
development, I think we are going to be able to get some players out of
here," Acta said.

Still, the solution won't happen overnight.

The Nationals filled two teams in the Rookie-Level Dominican Summer League,
but the three years the Nationals lacked a presence on the island has left
the upper minor league levels bereft of Dominican players.

And since signing Gonzalez, the Nationals haven't signed many Dominican
prospects at all, though that could change in the next month as the team
begins negotiations with several players from yesterday's tryout camp.

The Nationals are still trying to beef up their scouting department in the
Dominican Republic, and in addition to Rijo, the team has one full-time scout
on the island.

"Considering we had zero operations there a year and a half ago, we are
making great progress," Bowden said. "Obviously we are making positive
strides. We have a long way to go but we are certainly very happy with our
progress."

A home for baseball
It takes almost 45 minutes to reach the Nationals' baseball academy from
Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic's capital city, and the drive is rugged
at times, through potholed streets and up steep hills.

This is intentional.

At Loma Del Sueño, away from distraction, the players can focus on baseball
and learning. At least, that's the goal.

"It's baseball and you can get the best out of everyone instead of them
wanting to go to the beach and the club," Acta said. "This is perfect,
actually."

Rijo sponsors a thriving little league program in San Cristobal and built the
complex seven years ago for his own amateur academy, which helps develop
players across the Dominican Republic with the support of his foundation.

Some of the players are funneled to the Nationals, but they are free to sign
with any team, Rijo said.

"It seemed to me at the time it was the best way to invest my money in
something that I know and that I love, and it's the best way to give back to
the community," Rijo said.

The cost was steep. The Nationals, Tigers and Padres pay rent to use the
academy, but Rijo said he invested $10 million of his own money to turn what
had been a jungle into a baseball haven.

With five dormitories and the recently completed Hotel Loma Del Sueño, the
complex is able to house up to 250 players (including players from the Tigers
and Padres and Rijo's own amateur academy).

Players eat and sleep at the complex, and take English and Spanish lessons to
prepare them for a potential life in the big leagues. A weight room is
available.

"They've got everything here," Rijo said.

Older players can stay at the hotel, which has TVs in most rooms and a big
screen TV on the roof-top patio. The hotel also has Internet access and two
suites on the upper level--appropriately named Suite Bowden and Suite 27
(Rijo's number).

But the focus is baseball. Players practice for hours, and the ones who are
good enough will be sent to the Nationals' spring training complex in Viera,
Fla.

"Almost all the time, I am here," said Frank Cruz, a 17-year-old second
baseman from Santo Domingo signed by the Nationals in 2005. "I go home on the
weekend. This is like my home."