Carter Stewart signs in Japan

[jacksonianmarch]

Interesting path for the kid. He was a first rounder last year who didn’t sign because the Braves found something in his wrist. He was expected to be picked in the first round again, but opted for this route. He’s getting a $4mil signing bonus to go to Japan and he likely will make their major leagues far quicker than he would over here, hence he will be making a six figure salary at an earlier age whe he’d be otherwise toiling away in the minors making $2K a month. He can return to the majors at 25, which is maybe a year or two later than most top prospects make it to the majors. By then, he’ll be a FA and can command whatever the market dictates. He would be subject to arbitration rules, but he could ensure that his contracts don’t allow arbitration or service time constraints

[notin]

The downside is that he’s a teenager moving halfway around the world to a new country, culture, and language...

[mvp 78]

The downside is that he’s a teenager moving halfway around the world to a new country, culture, and language...

 

Upside is that he'll get paid enough to retire on his contract if his injury doesn't go away. Give me the extra $5M everytime.

[bkzwhitestrican]

The downside is that he’s a teenager moving halfway around the world to a new country, culture, and language...

 

Doesn't sound too bad. It'll be just like that movie Mr. Baseball, except he'll be young and rich.

[jacksonianmarch]

My hope is this will fix the issues with the baseball draft and minor league pay. These guys work every day for 7 months in the minors and get paid about $10K a year. Yes, they are playing baseball, but their schedules are so tight that they don't have time to work a second job and actually make a living. Some of these guys toil away and have families while they are going through it and they don't make anywhere near enough to be able to support their families. Stewart is getting a life changing amount of money, but also is going to get to be a FA 3 years earlier than projected. If this kid lights Japan on fire, then he could score himself a 9 figure contract as a 25 yr old, rather than being in pre-arb making $500K in the bigs at the same age. He is betting on himself, but also taking more money. This is going to be the next thing and I wouldn't be surprised if Japan becomes akin to our minor leagues. If MLB wants to fix this pathway, they should increase draft pools or go back to the way it was.

[notin]

Doesn't sound too bad. It'll be just like that movie Mr. Baseball, except he'll be young and rich.

 

And, also, not a movie.

 

It makes sense for him financially, but moving to a country where you don’t speak the language is difficult enough. And it’s going to be much harder given the immense differences between the Japanese and American cultures.

 

I don’t speak Spanish, but I moved to Mexico for a while in my late 20s. And I was completely lost, despite Mexico being comparatively much more American than Japan. Sure I couldn’t read or pronounce anything, but at least I recognized the letters from the alphabet and a lot of the words are actually similar. Japan is an entirely different matter.

 

Yeah he’ll have a personal translator for all things baseball, but that guy isn’t going to hang around him 24-7. It’s going to be really weird for Carter Stewart...

[notin]

The closest comparison I can think of would be Brandon Jennings, who signed to play basketball in Italy as opposed to playing college ball. Jennings strongly recommended against doing so afterwards, for multiple reasons. Despite even Italy being more American than Japan, he was not prepared nor mature enough to handle being in a foreign country alone at such a young age, and it was evident even on the court. What Stewart is doing could be infinitely more difficult...

[Slasher9]

it's Scott Boras. he is the devil.

also - japan league can go f*** themselves. we bend over backwards to wait until they will allow us to poach their players for the MLB...but do they reciprocate the favor? nah. we will just stick it right in without even lubing up first.....

[notin]

it's Scott Boras. he is the devil.

also - japan league can go f*** themselves. we bend over backwards to wait until they will allow us to poach their players for the MLB...but do they reciprocate the favor? nah. we will just stick it right in without even lubing up first.....

 

Boras just does his best to get the most lucrative opportunities for his clients. The decision to go to Japan was still made by Stewart...

[Carpin]

it's Scott Boras. he is the devil.

also - japan league can go f*** themselves. we bend over backwards to wait until they will allow us to poach their players for the MLB...but do they reciprocate the favor? nah. we will just stick it right in without even lubing up first.....

 

The difference is that Stewart doesn't have attachment to any organization in the US, he's a free agent

[StephenCurry30]

This seems to be more and more common in NBA, interesting to see it happen in the MLB. I wonder if more players will take this route?

[bertha]

Loving this thread! indeed

[notin]

This seems to be more and more common in NBA, interesting to see it happen in the MLB. I wonder if more players will take this route?

 

Other than Brandon Jennings, what other NBA players have followed this type of path?