The Pittsburgh Pirates have reportedly dismissed Junior Vizcaino as the Director of International Scouting, according to Francys Romero. The team has also dismissed Luis Silverio, the Senior Advisor of Latin American Operations.
Vizcaino took over for Rene Gayo in 2017, while Silverio was the senior advisor of Latin American operations prior to that.
The Pirates have had very few prospects from Latin America make it to the majors during this time. Luis Ortiz is the single prospect who has made it to Pittsburgh, after being signed in 2018 for $25,000. Luis Peralta just made it to the majors with the Rockies, after being traded at the recent deadline. He was signed in 2017 for $110,000.
Outside of Ortiz and Peralta, the Pirates have had very few Latin American prospects who have made it beyond A-ball. This is despite them spending over $40 million dollars on international bonuses in the time Vizcaino has been in charge.
Their recent signing class was headlined by outfielder Bralyn Brazoban receiving over $2 million, and shortstop Adbiel Feliz receiving over $1 million. Brazoban had a .485 OPS in his first professional season, while Feliz had a .536 OPS. The league average in the DSL this year was a .701 OPS.
In my recent top 50 update of the Pirates system, there were zero Latin American prospects inside the top 20, and only one international free agent signed by the Pirates (Alessandro Ercolani, signed out of San Marino). There were four Latin American prospects inside the top 30 (Antwone Kelly, Yordany De Los Santos, Omar Alfonzo, Esmerlyn Valdez), but none above A-ball. The lone top 50 international signing who is above A-ball is RHP Emmanuel Chapman, who was signed this past offseason as a 25-year-old pitcher out of Cuba.
The dismissal of Vizcaino and Silverio were necessary moves, considering the lack of results from such an important avenue of amateur talent. I wrote about the necessity of making a change in the international scouting scene earlier this month, when I wrote that the Pirates are failing from owner Bob Nutting to the Dominican Academy.
These aren’t the only moves the Pirates need to make to improve their overall process, but this is an important step toward hopefully getting better players out of Latin America.
