FORT MYERS, Fla. – Somewhere in the neighborhood of two dozen members of the MLB international scouting community gathered at JetBlue Park Saturday afternoon to watch a 15-year-old left-hander from Venezuela do his best to impress them.
It wasn’t the largest assemblage of scouts Alfredo Garcia-Barrios has ever pitched in front of – that was at the Perfect Game National Showcase at JetBlue Park a little less than a month ago – but it was a respectable gathering, nonetheless.
Everyone was brought together on the 95-degree afternoon courtesy of the 17u Perfect Game BCS Finals where Garcia-Barrios is playing with the Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.-based FACTR Baseball team.
“I came here with my team and I’m happy to be here and eager to see what this Perfect Game (tournament) has (to offer),’ Garcia-Barrios said through interpreter Fabian Placencia, who has been scouting games at all of the PG BCS Finals the last four weeks.
“I want to thank the Lord first that He has allowed me to come here and show off my talents,” he said, “and I want to thank Perfect Game for the experience.”
There were of a lot people, a lot of considerations and a lot of good old-fashioned luck involved in Garcia-Barrios’ appearance at the 18u PG BCS Finals. Among the people involved are FACTR Baseball founder/general manager/field manager Ricky Plante, Garcia-Barrios’ Venezuelan agent Carolina Andrade-Valenti and Perfect Game National Scouting Director Greg Sabers.
Garcia-Barrios, who is from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, started playing baseball when he was 4 years old and it should surprise no one that as a youngster he idolized his countryman Johan Santana. He said he always admired the way Santana pitched with such tenacity and has always wanted to be just like him.
“I came here because I want to get a professional contract. It would be one of my top dreams to be a major league baseball player,” Garcia-Barrios said. FACTR Baseball is hoping to provide a huge assist in helping him reach those goals, and it looks like the youngster might have landed – quite by chance – with an organization that best fits his needs.
This the FACTR Baseball’s second year of operation and it works under a sense of purpose that isn’t necessarily typical in the travel baseball world. FACTR Baseball is an acronym for “Finding A Cure Through Recruting” Baseball and when the team name is spelled out, the “A” is represented by a pediatric cancer ribbon.
All four teams in the group – 9u, 10u, 12u and 17u – sponsor a family in need that is dealing with pediatric cancer, Plante said. The organization’s website states: “Factor Baseball strives to create balance in baseball between taking and giving while teaching valuable life lessons and instilling noble core values within our young adults and leaders of tomorrow.”
Plante coached at the collegiate level for 11 years and then got into professional scouting. Throughout his career he has encountered players with serious character issues and therefore demands that any young man associated with FACTR Baseball displays only the highest character traits.
“By starting this organization, I figured I could save (college and professional teams) the work of having to do background checks,” Plante said. “They’re going to know if these (young players) play for me they’re going to be of high character. The kids are working in the community and learning that there’s more than baseball – there’s life – and you have to be able to function in society.”
Another hands-on person involved in FACTR Baseball is two-time Cy Young Award recipient Roy Halladay, the winner of 203 games in 16 big-league seasons with the Blue Jays (12 years) and the Phillies (four years). Halladay’s youngest son, Ryan, is a right-handed pitcher/catcher/first baseman on the FACTR Baseball 10u team.
“Roy is our pitching coordinator throughout the program,” Plante said before adding with a laugh, “He’s a great person to have involved and he seems to know a little bit about pitching. He’s a great guy, he’s a great person and you never heard anything about him being in trouble. He’s a perfect fit for the program and has done a lot for us.
“This is a very young club, so we’re teaching them the right way to play the game. We want them to learn how to respect the game … and these guys are doing an outstanding job with that.”
Plante lives on Indian Rocks Beach and came across Garcia-Barrios quite unexpectedly one day. He was at the local little-league field conducting a hitting lesson with another youngster when he noticed Garcia-Barrios doing some throwing a little farther out on the field.
Indian Rock Beach is a small community and Plante figures he knows just about every kid in town, so when he spotted a young player he didn’t know, his interest was piqued. He watched Garcia-Barrios do a couple of workouts and then watched him do some throwing.
While he is adamant about staying focused on the lesson he is giving, Plante decided in this case he needed to briefly interrupt it and go over and speak to the young left-hander.
“Watching (Garcia-Barrios) do his conditioning drills and then start throwing – the ball came out of his hands so clean – it was beautiful,” he said. “It was one of those guys that you see and you know that he’s a big-time player.”
Garcia-Barrios (and the adults that were with him) told Plante that he was 15 years old and wouldn’t turn 16 until the end of July, that he was from Venezuela and that he was hoping to sign an international professional contract when he became eligible July 2.
Plante told Garcia-Barrios about his 17u team and invited him to play with FACTR Baseball this summer. Plante would use the resources available to him to get in touch with all of the MLB international scouting directors and he would make sure the youngster was seen by all the right eyes.
And, like he does with all of his players, Plante did a thorough background check, speaking to Garcia-Barrios’ parents and talking with the international scouts in Venezuela, and ultimately received a glowing report. Garcia-Barrios became the newest member of FACTR Baseball and spent the summer living with a host family on Indian Rocks Beach.
“We’ve got a great bunch of kids and he fit right into our dugout,” Plante said. “We made him feel welcome – he felt right at home – and it was a great fit for everybody. It was just by luck that I happened to be out doing a lesson and he showed up at the field and I got a chance to watch him throw.”
Garcia-Barrios couldn’t be any more thrilled with the relationships he’s built: “When I joined FACTR Baseball, they greeted me with open arms,” he said. “They’re there for me and it feels like we’re all friends. When I’m out there pitching everybody on the field and in the dugout has my back.”
He made his Perfect Game debut playing for FACTR Baseball at the PG Super25 17u Florida State Regional tournament May 30-31 at Terry Park here in Fort Myers. But it was a return trip to Fort Myers – this time to JetBlue Park – that served as his coming out party.
Andrade-Valenti had contacted PG’s Sabers to tell him that Garcia-Barrios was in the United States and Sabers invited the young left-hander to the PG National Showcase, amateur baseball’s most prestigious upperclass showcase event. The 15-year-old showed up, stepped out on the mound and promptly flashed a 91 mph fastball, 72 mph curveball and 80 mph changeup, and was named to the prestigious event’s Top Prospect List.
While noting that Garcia-Barrios would be eligible to sign as an international player on July 2, the PG report from the National Showcase read: “He could have vaulted himself into a big signing bonus with a very loose arm and an easy delivery, not to mention a fastball that topped out at 91 mph.”
Garcia-Barrios said he completely enjoyed the PG National Showcase and felt like he performed very well. He welcomed the opportunity to get out in front of the MLB scouting community and was looking forward to that experience again Saturday afternoon. Anytime he can face the best competition with scouts looking on, he said, it brings out the best in him.
Andrade-Valenti knew it was important to get Garcia-Barrios to the States this summer simply to get him the exposure he so desperately needs. Political realities has made it increasingly difficult for MLB scouts to obtain visas to enter the country so the young prospects must find ways to come to the scouts.
“Here we have a kid who a year ago was just 14 years old competing with kids who were at least a year older than he was, and we knew he had it in him and it was only a matter of time before he (started to) develop,” she said. “We said, ‘You know what, we have to go to Perfect Game.’ … It’s a great experience; it’s a great opportunity.”
The performance Garcia-Barrios gave the scouts Saturday afternoon was a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly. He showed a fastball that sat 87-89 mph and reached 90, a curveball that sat 72-76 mph and a changeup that dropped-in in the 77-79 range. A PG scout called his delivery “smooth” with “sound mechanics” and said of his arm action that he “throws easy” and his “arm works well.”
But Garcia-Barrios struggled mightily with his control. He didn’t allow a hit in 1 1/3 innings on the hill and struck out a pair of batters, but he allowed three runs (two earned), walked four, hit a batter, threw a wild pitch and was called for a balk; he threw 39 pitches, 19 for strikes. Throughout the entire outing, his infielders repeatedly walked over to the mound to show their support.
This is a young prospect that won’t turn 16 years old until the end of the month. Like every player in his age-group, he has a tremendous amount of learning to do, but unlike a lot of his peers he also has such a high ceiling most scouts would agree there is an awful lot to work with. Andrade-Valenti, his agent, said nothing but positives can be taken from this summer’s experiences, especially the time Garcia-Barrios has spent with his FACTR Baseball teammates.
“I think the key was the way the American kids embraced Alfredo,” she said. “He’s a kid and what we told him was, ‘Look, just have fun. Don’t think about anything else.’ That’s what kids do is have fun and there’s no pressure on him whatsoever. We’re very happy that he’s having a lot of fun.”