International Notes: Bahamas, Japan, Korea

With not much likely to happen in the way of U.S. baseball transactions today, we’ll turn an eye to some locations overseas…

• The quality of talent in Bahamian baseball is on the rise, writes MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. To date, only six players from the Bahamas have played in the major leagues, including Antoan Richardson, the player who famously crossed the plate for the walk-off run Derek Jeter drove in during his final MLB at-bat. However, as many as fifteen players across MiLB’s 30 farm systems come from the Bahamas. Notably, Kristian Robinson currently ranks as the Diamondbacks’ 12th-best prospect, while Trent Deveaux and D’Shawn Knowles are among the Angels’ top 30 minor-leaguers. Lucius Fox, another Bahamian native (and a former $6MM international signing by the Giants), batted .326 in the Arizona Fall League and projects to open the 2019 season with the Rays’ Double-A Affiliate. Perhaps the most intriguing name on the list of Bahamian prospects is Jazz Chisholm, who’s ranked as the Diamondbacks’ third-best farmhand by MLB Pipeline.
• Kazuto Yamazaki of Baseball Prospectus suggests that a “wave” of Nippon Professional Baseball talent could make its way to MLB next year, and lists their names in a tweet. Left-handed-hitting outfielder Shogo Akiyama is reportedly set for international free agency, while Takahiro Norimoto, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, and Ryosuke Kikuchi are all probable candidates to be made available through NPB’s posting system. Japan, of course, as produced plenty of high-end MLB talent in recent seasons, including Masahiro Tanaka and Shohei Ohtani. Yusei Kikuchi, who was just posted earlier this month, is the NPB’s most interesting player to make the jump to MLB this winter.
• Per Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston, a longtime Astros scout has taken a job with a Korean Baseball Organization team. Aaron Tassano, who’s also done legwork for the Cubs and Rays, is now the scouting coordinator for the KBO’s Samsung Lions, for whom he’ll now be trying to pluck talent from MLB farm systems. Drellich’s piece compiles some interesting quotes from Tassano that help form a picture of how KBO teams might make their pitches to certain MLB players and their agents.