The Reds' Director of Global Scouting is searching the world for baseball talent.
Baseball is hugely popular in the Caribbean, with nearly every country participating in international competition. Asia has a growing base of players and a well developed high school baseball system. Europe is gaining ground in this area.
The Bahamas are loaded with quality athletes and Stoeckel, with the help of nationally renowned coach Patrick Knowles of Freeport, have identified quality athletes with the potential to excel in the Major Leagues.
"There are a lot of world class athletes in the Bahamas," Stoeckel said. "They don't have high school programs like they do in Asia, but they have athletes. Baseball is turning toward a traditional National League style, where pitching and defense are emphasized. We are looking for players who can win games without the bat."
Recently the Reds signed two very young players from Freeport on Grand Bahama Island located just 55 miles from West Palm Beach, Florida.
Outfielder and left-handed pitcher Reshard Munroe, 17, and thirdbaseman/catcher Quinton Rolle, 16, signed with the Reds on September 8. The Reds sent them to an instructional camp in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic with other young, raw talent.
Munroe is in his fourth year in the system, playing center field. This is his first taste above half-season rookie ball was two games with Dayton earlier this year. He has since been sent to Billings where he is hitting .342 in 11 games.
He played a year in the Dominican rookie league and two years in the Arizona Rookie League. He was in 108 games, hitting .252 with five home runs, 40 RBI and 27 stolen bases in 34 attempts.
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| Quinton Rolle Reshard Munroe |
(see more detail about these two players in future posts)
The pair hope to follow in the footsteps of outfielder Antoan Richardson, who broke in with the Atlanta Braves in 2014 and returned with the New York Yankees this past season.
"I have heard of Antoan Richardson because he made it to the top," said Munroe, who has seen very little big league baseball played and only on then on television news from a Miami TV station that is received on the island.
Richardson is one of six major league players born in the Bahamas, all from the more populated Nassau Island. Andre Rodgers, an infielder, was the first. He had an 11-year career with New York and San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, beginning in 1957 . Outfielder Tony Curry played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960-61 and the Cleveland Indians in 1966. Wenty Ford pitched in four games with the Braves in 1973. Ed Armbrister played five seasons with the Reds from 1973-77. He was involved in a controversial bunt play in the 1975 World Series against the Boston Red Sox as a fifth outfielder on the Big Red Machine. Outfielder Wil Curry was the last player from the Bahamas to play in the Major Leagues. Curry played in seven games for Cleveland in 1983.
There have been 30 years between Curry's brief appearance and Richardson's current stint.
Stephen Adderley, a general manager of Freeport Oil Company, who is enough of a big league fan to keep a baseball card of Pete Rose in his wallet. Adderley accompanied Rolle to the interview nd explained that Nassau had a good league until the late 70's but it fell apart. Rolle played Little League Baseball from the age of six through 12 on a team sponsored by FOCOL.
Freeport began home rule in 1973.
"Baseball is making a comeback," Adderley said. "They are trying to qualify for the World Baseball Classic. That is one of our goals. Somewhere along the line that is going to happen. The last of our guys played for England National Team if they were born before the Bahamas was independent, they could play for England. We have new leadership and baseball is making a comeback in the last 10 years with new leadership. We have a national tournament with over 500 kids in it."
Knowles coaches the Youth National team and Rolle born in January 1998, is the youngest player ever selected to the National Softball Team.
There are still not a lot of players in the country yet but the competition is getting better.
"We don't have a lot of players here yet," said Munroe. "The baseball is not as good as the US or the Domincan Republic. You basically play the same teams, so you never get any better. I had to go to the Dominican to find that out."
There are plenty of athletes in the Bahamas,
"My competition for players here has been the other sports, basketball and football. There is a football player for the University of Miami," Stoeckel said.
Look for more baseball players from the islands in the future.
"Since I signed there have been a lot more guys who want to play baseball," said Rolle, who graduates from Jack Hayward High School in June.
