Two top baseball prospects in the Dominican Republic face fierce competition and corruption as they chase their big league dreams.Two top baseball prospects in the Dominican Republic face fierce competition and corruption as they chase their big league dreams.Two top baseball prospects in the Dominican Republic face fierce competition and corruption as they chase their big league dreams.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTrevor Martin described Pelotero as a spiritual predecessor to Sugar (2008) as Pelotero is about how a player is recruited to Major League Baseball from the Dominican Republic and Sugar's plot relates to how a player adapts to Major League Baseball once he has arrived.
Featured review
Strange yet eye-opening.
The fact that there are a HUGE number of players in American baseball who are from the Dominican Republic isn't very surprising to most American sports fans. However, even if you are aware of their dominance in the league, you probably will learn A LOT from this very unusual documentary.
It turns out that the way ballplayers are recruited in the Dominican Republic is VERY different from the US. Here, ballplayers are signed young--so young that the leagues have been able to get great players for a fraction of their cost domestically. How do you do that? Well, here is where some obscure Major League rules come into play. It seems that ball players in this country can be signed at age 16 but only after July 1st. So, the hottest prospects are usually signed in a frenzy on the 1st--and the longer it takes to get signed, the smaller the bonuses and the more likely it is they won't be signed at all. So, there is a huge incentive to sign them AND to convince baseball you are only 16. 17, 18 and 19 year-olds are considered more risky--and command much, much smaller bonuses. So, for the poor Dominicans, there's a very strong incentive to lie about your age or even who you are. A very good 18 year-old player will seem like a god compared to kids who are only 16! So, the League actually does a lot of vetting to determine if the prospects are only 16--with medical tests and careful examination of the player's records. This film is about two of these top prospects, Jean Carlos Batista and Miguel Angel Sano, and it follows them through this recruiting season. Let's just say that there are lots of hiccups and surprises along the way for both of these guys!
Overall, this is a fascinating little film--one that might surprise you in many ways and which teaches you a lot about what a big business baseball really is! Well worth seeing.
It turns out that the way ballplayers are recruited in the Dominican Republic is VERY different from the US. Here, ballplayers are signed young--so young that the leagues have been able to get great players for a fraction of their cost domestically. How do you do that? Well, here is where some obscure Major League rules come into play. It seems that ball players in this country can be signed at age 16 but only after July 1st. So, the hottest prospects are usually signed in a frenzy on the 1st--and the longer it takes to get signed, the smaller the bonuses and the more likely it is they won't be signed at all. So, there is a huge incentive to sign them AND to convince baseball you are only 16. 17, 18 and 19 year-olds are considered more risky--and command much, much smaller bonuses. So, for the poor Dominicans, there's a very strong incentive to lie about your age or even who you are. A very good 18 year-old player will seem like a god compared to kids who are only 16! So, the League actually does a lot of vetting to determine if the prospects are only 16--with medical tests and careful examination of the player's records. This film is about two of these top prospects, Jean Carlos Batista and Miguel Angel Sano, and it follows them through this recruiting season. Let's just say that there are lots of hiccups and surprises along the way for both of these guys!
Overall, this is a fascinating little film--one that might surprise you in many ways and which teaches you a lot about what a big business baseball really is! Well worth seeing.
helpful•10
- planktonrules
- Jan 18, 2015
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $46,109
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $20,628
- Jul 15, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $46,109
- Runtime1 hour 17 minutes
- Color
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