Los Angeles named Organization of the Year

[LA Dodgers]

Los Angeles Dodgers named Organization of the Year

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Baseball America honors the Dodgers
Los Angeles named Organization of the Year for the first time
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com


LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Further evidence of the success of the Dodgers' player development department came on Monday when Los Angeles was named the 2006 Organization of the Year by Baseball America.
The Dodgers were cited after a season that saw homegrown rookies Russell Martin, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, Hong-Chih Kuo, James Loney and Eric Stults make contributions en route to a playoff berth. Andre Ethier, acquired last winter in a trade with Oakland, was promoted in May and became the everyday left fielder for much of the second half.

General manager Ned Colletti, taking over in November, also signed free agents Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra, Kenny Lofton, Bill Mueller and Brett Tomko. He was equally busy making in-season trades that netted, among others, Greg Maddux, Wilson Betemit and Marlon Anderson.

In addition, the Dodgers' international scouting network uncovered Takashi Saito, who went from Minor League contract to Major League closer. The Dodgers, at 88-64, gained 17 wins from the previous year.

This is the first time the Dodgers have been so honored by Baseball America, which began naming an overall organization of the year in 1982. The editors pick a selection based on a franchise's performance during the season with the team, coach, general manager and organization taken as a whole. The award will be presented on Tuesday night at Baseball America's annual awards banquet.

"The Dodgers have always been at their best when they have nurtured young players through the farm system and as we saw this year, the Dodger rookies were outstanding," said Frank McCourt, owner and chairman. "We believe this season marked the beginning of the next great era of Dodger baseball and being named 'Organization of the Year' indicates we have returned to our rightful spot as one of sports' model franchises."

Much of the credit for the talent in the farm system belongs to Logan White, recently promoted from director of scouting to assistant general manager, but also instrumental was former farm director Terry Collins, who left in October to manage in Japan, and vice president Kim Ng, who oversaw the farm system in 2004 after farm director Bill Bavasi left to become general manager in Seattle.

Loney emerged as the crown jewel of the system in 2006 when he led the Minor Leagues with a .380 average at Triple-A Las Vegas. A natural first baseman, Loney might be moved to the outfield for 2007.

"Scouting and player development are the lifeblood of an organization," said Colletti. "So many people contributed to this honor."

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

 

[LA Dodgers]

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Avila picks up scouting honor
Credits former Dodgers GM Campanis as his mentor
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com

Ralp Avila began his career in 1967 as an unpaid "bird-dog scout" under Al Campanis.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Al Campanis would have been proud.
Campanis will forever be remembered for his fateful words on a Nightline interview, instead of a 46-year baseball career during which, as personnel chief of the Dodgers, he once hired a Cuban expatriate to be his eyes and ears in the Caribbean searching for talent.

Ralph Avila went on to become a vice president of Latin American operations in the organization, and on Tuesday he was honored as Major League Baseball's first International Scout of the Year.

Avila, a semi-pro ballplayer in Cuba, participated in the revolution that overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista, but a rival party led by Fidel Castro took over the country. Avila eventually fled for America, returned for the Bay of Pigs invasion and then returned to Florida.

A sheet-metal worker who ran a free baseball clinic in Miami to keep Cuban refugee kids out of trouble, he hooked up in 1967 as an unpaid "bird-dog scout" for Campanis. Avila was hired full-time in 1971 to scout Florida, and he spotted eventual first-round pick Rick Rhoden. In 1974 Campanis tabbed Avila to comb the Dominican Republic looking for baseball players.

Under Avila's direction, the Dodgers established a relationship with the Licey professional club in the Dominican and with it a foothold in the country. It started an unprecedented flow of talent that led to the establishment of the organization's development complex outside of Santo Domingo, Campo Las Palmas, where young farmhands from 24 countries have begun their Dodgers careers.

"I really miss Al," Avila said of Campanis, who died in 1998. "He was my mentor, my teacher, my advisor. He taught me scouting. He taught me the Dodger way, and to this day I still use Al's system. I always was, am and will be an Al Campanis man. He was like my father."

Campanis and Avila seized an opportunity in building the academy. As signing bonuses escalated because of the amateur draft in the United States, talent from the Caribbean (not subject to the draft) was less expensive. With Castro preventing Cuban players from leaving his island and Major League expansion creating more total roster spots, the players had to come from somewhere.

Avila won the admiration of then-owner Peter O'Malley, who gave Avila the vice president title in 1989. Avila remains active as a senior advisor for player development. Among the players that passed through the academy began by Avila and Campanis are the Martinez brothers (Ramon and Pedro), Raul Mondesi, Jose Offerman and Mariano Duncan. Now, virtually every team has a complex on the island.

Avila's son, Al, is assistant general manager of the Detroit Tigers.

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its

 

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