Where To Point The Finger

8-28-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X

The Pirates finally pulled the trigger and fired someone. Granted, it was not anyone in the Pirates coaching staff or the front office – but the Director of International Scouting, Junior Vizcaino – who had been in the role since replacing Rene Gayo, famously associated with the Miguel Sano saga, in 2017. The team also parted ways with Luis Silverio who operated as their Senior Advisor of Latin American Operations. 

Sources: The Pittsburgh Pirates have dismissed Junior Vizcaino as Director of International Scouting

Vizcaino replaced Rene Gayó in 2017.

Luis Silverio, Senior Advisor of Latin American Operations was also dismissed.

— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) August 28, 2024

Development of talent has been a big issue but evaluating that talent is first and foremost – and considering the amount of resources reportedly committed to international markets, specifically in Latin America – one would think the results would be more apparent.

The international market is rife with success stories: Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr., Julio Rodriguez, Fernando Tatis Jr. and others among the All Star players signed through this process. While the Pirates had some success with international players in the previous administration – namely, Starling Marte – the organization at-large has mostly failed to land any meaningful players from this process.

In Vizcaino’s first signing period included a number of players either exceedingly far away from the MLB down in the minors or out of baseball entirely. The lone exception? Ji-hwan Bae, whom the Pirates only signed because of the Braves contract scandal and who has largely failed to live up to expectations. And Luis Peralta, who isn’t doing anything for the Pirates because he was dealt to the Rockies at the trade deadline for relief lefty, Jalen Beeks. Peralta debuted on August 24th for Colorado and has pitched 2.2 scoreless innings as of this writing. 

End of list.

That’s it. None of the remaining 72 players signed that year have managed to break through with the Pirates or any other MLB club, and are all Rule 5 eligible this offseason.

In year 5 of this rebuild, the team needs to do a better job evaluating talent and providing said talent with all of the opportunities for success. If they’re going to continue falling short in these fields, it’s going to be a LONG time before we see Buctober baseball again.