Effectively Wild Episode 1239: The Astudillo Origin Story

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Rays using backup catcher Jesus Sucre as a pitcher to protect a lead, the return of Shohei Ohtani, Javier Baez’s exciting and silly steal of home, and what life would be like with deferred payments. Then (29:58) they bring on Phillies international scouting director Sal Agostinelli to discuss his Willians Astudillo-esque career, discovering, signing, and developing Astudillo, the July 2 signing period, scouting teenaged players, amateur scouting vs. international scouting, the importance of makeup, how to judge international-scouting success, signing players despite being saddled with a small bonus pool, the difficulty of focusing on baseball in Venezuela, expanding into new international markets, and more. Audio intro: Talib Kweli (Feat. Nigel Hall), "Mr. International" Audio interstitial: Nat King Cole, "Calico Sal" Audio outro: Stackridge, "The Road to Venezuela" Link to Jeff’s post about position-player pitchers Link to list of deferred payments Link to Javier Baez’s steal of home Link to Philadelphia Inquirer feature on Sal Agostinelli Link to 2018 team WAR from international amateur signees Link to feature on Phillies’ international scouting Link to Sal’s baseball-training site  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: [email protected] var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source