Young Liam Tep’s involvement with Kent Hughes‘ former agency, Quartexx, at the age of 12 illustrates a growing trend in minor hockey: agents now courting younger and younger players.
Even if some agents are now starting to approach players aged 10 to 12 in hockey, the phenomenon remains marginal. The sport is still far from the reality of recruiting in international baseball, where informal multimillion-dollar deals can be made years before the legal signing age.
Ironically, in the weeks leading up to the completion of this file, the Philadelphia Phillies announced that they had reached an agreement with Venezuelan shortstop David Basabe on a pre-agreement with a signing bonus of $1.8 million.
Basabe is… 11 years old.
Then, the Texas Rangers promised a $4 million bonus to Andel Pérez, while the Cincinnati Reds agreed with outfielder Julio Ramos for $2.8 million. The two Dominicans are 12 years old.
We are talking here about a pre-agreement, i.e. a commitment on the part of the teams to give the promised bonus to the player once he reaches the legal age to sign a major league contract, i.e. at 16 years old.
No guarantee protects these players, however. An injury or a slowdown in development could bring down the deal.
Doping cases
This type of contract is nothing new in Latin American countries, since so-called international players are not subject to going through the traditional MLB draft.
In the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, agents, appointed searcheshave taken control of the development of baseball players in the country. These independent recruiters try to identify the best young talents in the country to train them full time with the goal of having them spotted by MLB teams.
These young people are often removed from the regular school system while searches cover the costs of accommodation, food and equipment.
Once a professional contract is in hand, they then keep a fairly high percentage of the signing bonus.
The phenomenon remains taboo and little regulated even if, in 2019, MLB announced an agreement with the Dominican authorities in order to supervise private academies due to a high number of cases of doping among young people taken care of by searches.
A two-edged knife
There are numerous recent examples of young players from Latin America who had been taken under the wing of searches before signing contracts from the first days of their eligibility, at 16 years old.
The Dominican Jasson Dominguez, in particular, had signed a contract with the New York Yankees with a bonus of $5.1 million. Nicknamed “the Martian”, Dominguez is perhaps the international player who has generated the most excitement in recent years. However, he never really fulfilled all the expectations placed on him.
