The New York Yankees have finally concluded their search for a new Director of International Scouting according to Jack Curry of YES Network.
He reports that they are hiring Mario Garza, who had spent 16 seasons with the Yankees as he was previously their Director of Baseball Development.
Garza has experience as a pro baseball player and was also a MiLB manager/coach for the Yankees at various points of his career with the Yankees.
Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News reported that the team’s search had gone both external and internal following the firing of Danny Rowland, who previously held the position.
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Mario Garza Named Yankees’ Next Director of International Scouting
The Yankees hiring Mario Garza will finally end the search for a Director of International Scouting that had gone on for weeks, as the team lost commitments from both Wandy Asigen and Marion De La Rosa.
Contradicting reports about Brian Cashman calling off all commitments and the team simply losing out on the player had surfaced, but the firing of Danny Rowland had an unquestionable effect on their international free agent classes.
New York will have to pick up the pieces left behind by that era of scouting with Garza, who’s experience as a player, coach, and front office executive could turn their luck in the IFA market.
Recent signees such as Roderick Arias and Brando Mayea who received large signing bonuses have not panned out the way the Yankees hoped for, which seems to be the driving cause behind the regime change.
A thorough and drawn-out hiring process did damage to their IFA commitment classes for the coming years, but it should also be noted how much damage had been done to the team through their previous failed signings.
Arias is one of the more notable busts of recent memory; his large signing bonus and hot start in the DSL/Complex resulted in a high prospect ranking, all of which came crashing down when he reached Single-A.
He’s no longer ranked on Baseball America’s top 30 prospects for the Yankees’ system, and the pipeline of IFA-to-MLB talent for the club has dried up.
The Yankees are betting that the damage done short-term will be offset by the value gained long-term, but only time can tell if that ends up being the right call.
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