Building the Béisbol Brand
By JONATHAN MAHLER, NEW YORK TIME MAGAZINE
Published: July 31, 2005

On the June morning that I visited the Mets' Dominican
Academia de Béisbol, a pair of perfect diamonds
surrounded by stucco walls topped with barbed wire in
the tiny town of Boca de Nigua, the Dominican Summer
League had just begun. The Mets' prospects were
playing the Detroit Tigers' prospects. One of the
Mets' most promising young players on the island, a
17-year-old shortstop named Samuel Jiuz, was making
his first start. As he took infield and batting
practice, it was easy to see why the Mets are so high
on Jiuz. He possesses what scouts call ''plus tools''
-- a strong arm, soft hands, speed and power -- as
well as a ''good body.'' Lean and muscular, he appears
in no danger of growing fat. Right now, he's listed at
6-foot-3 and 176 pounds, but with better nutrition and
weight training, the Mets' senior scout for the
Dominican Republic, Eddy Toledo, expects him to put on
25 pounds of muscle over the next few years. Scouts
like to match a prospect with the major leaguer whom
he most closely resembles; Toledo compares Jiuz to the
former All-Star shortstop Tony Fernandez.


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