THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : Baseball : Scouts Can Only Admire Cubans

Among the 1,500 or so spectators watching Cuba’s powerful baseball team beat the stuffing out of Venezuela here Friday were a couple of working stiffs named John Keenan and Glenn Van Proyen.

They are scouts for the Dodgers, and they agreed that the Cuban ballplayers who have been beating the United States at its own game in recent years are everything they’re cracked up to be.

Keenan and Van Proyen were in a group of seven major league scouts who sat behind home plate at Bush Stadium as Cuban pitcher Omar Ajete worked on a perfect game against Venezuela.

Ajete, a well-muscled left-hander, was showing a lively fastball and big-bending curveballs. After six innings, he had retired all 18 batters and had probably one inning left, since games here are stopped if a team is trailing by 10 or more runs after seven innings.

Cuba was leading, 13-0.

“Sure this guy would be a great prospect, if he weren’t a Cuban,” Van Proyen said. “But for us to get excited over a Cuban player . . . that’s like a guy looking at a brand-new Cadillac with $20 in the bank.”

There was also talk of a Cuban named Juan Castro, who could maybe catch in the big leagues right now, a second baseman with an arm to rival Manny Trillo’s and a teen-age Nicaraguan pitcher.

Mostly, though, the scouts were here to see the U.S. players, although they also inspected players from the Latin countries. Of Cuba’s players, they could only dream.

“About 95% of our concentration here is on two pitchers the Dodgers drafted in the June draft, plus all the USA kids who’ll be eligible for the draft next year,” said Keenan, Midwest scouting director for the Dodgers.

“We’re interested in seeing the players from the Latin countries, but the Dodgers and all the other clubs have scouts in Latin America who’ve seen these kids. There are some good players from countries other than Cuba, but too many of them are 22, 23 years old.”

The two U.S. pitchers playing here who were drafted in June by the Dodgers are Chris Nichting, a right-hander from Northwestern University, and Jim Poole, a left-hander from Georgia Tech.

One of the most visible of the Cuban players here has been center fielder Victor Mesa, who made a running catch to save Cuba’s 1-0 victory over Puerto Rico the other day.

“That was a Willie Mays play,” Van Proyen said. “He plays the outfield extremely well, and he has good speed. But he’s not Willie McGee. He’s not a burner. They say he’s got a good bat, but he hasn’t shown me much at the plate.”

Three other Cubans the pro scouts here like are third baseman Omar Linares, second baseman Antonio Pacheco and catcher Castro.

“Linares and Castro are real strong guys, real power hitters, although Castro hasn’t done much at the plate here,” Keenan said. “But you never know how they’d hit with wood bats. See, the ball really jumps off an aluminum bat. Good major college hitters who’ve never in their lives played with wood bats go to rookie leagues sometimes and really struggle at the plate.

Attention refocused on Ajete, who was trying to seal his perfect game in the seventh inning. With two out and a 3-and-2 count, Ajete lost it. The Venezuelan hitter reached first on an error, took third on a single and scored on a throwing error. The Cubans won, 13-1.

Scout Tony LoVitto of the Kansas City Royals agreed that Ajete looked like a pro prospect but not a high draft pick.

“He’s good, sure. But remember, there are 17-, 18-year-old high school kids all over the country who throw as hard as he does,” LoVitto said. “I’ve clocked his fastball with the (radar) gun at 89 m.p.h. That’s good velocity, but lots of pitchers throw harder.

“The Cuban I like is Castro, the catcher. He’s big and strong, has soft hands behind the plate and a great arm. I like him a lot. He’s 30, but to me he’s a major league catcher.”

LoVitto likes Cuba’s second baseman, Pacheco, even more.

“Pacheco has the best arm, throwing from second to first, I’ve seen since Manny Trillo was in his prime,” he said. “In fact, I’ll say he’s got the best arm I’ve ever seen at second--better than Trillo.”

If the Cubans are off limits, though, what about the Nicaraguans? Can major league baseball extract a prospect from Nicaragua? After the Pan Am games, a lot of teams will be trying to find out.

“Nicaragua has a 17-year-old pitcher named John Allen most of us like,” Keenan said. “His fastball is in the 82-86 range, he has good size, a good curveball, and lots of control problems. But it’s all mechanics. He could be taught, I think, to be a pretty good pitcher. But could he leave Nicaragua to play here? I have no idea.”