OT: Rays building Baseball Academy in Brazil

[J.Kim]

Even though this article is from a couple months ago, I don't think I've ever seen it posted here. I thought it was interesting, so I thought I'd post.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring201 ... id=6263757

I guess they really see Brazil as a future hotbed. I'd call them crazy to do this since Soccer is so ingrained into the culture of Brazilians, but I guess they (and Reiner) see something in the Brazilian market.

Do they Jays have any academies outside of the Dominican?

[Hoopstarr]

Even harder to believe is that the Rays have so far spent zero dollars on the construction of the academy. The $2.5 million project has been subsidized by both federal and local funds. Tampa Bay's only financial commitment is for the upkeep of the academy, which could be anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million per year, for the next five years. Tampa Bay won't even have to spend a dime on players' medical care since all Brazilians are covered through the country's universal health care plan.

Wow. The Rays keep finding efficiencies and everyone else just plays catch-up.

[Schad]

Yeah, it's a brilliant move, simply because you don't need 200 million baseball-mad people...draw in a couple hundred interested 12-13 year olds and get perhaps one or two viable prospects (by which I mean kids worthy of going on to play in the DSL/VSL at age 16 and eventually move stateside) and you'll have a leg up on everyone should a market materialize.