Ballplayer: Pelotero (2011)

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The fact that there are a HUGE number of players in American baseball who are from the Dominican Republic isn't very surprising to most American sports fans. However, even if you are aware of their dominance in the league, you probably will learn A LOT from this very unusual documentary.It turns out that the way ballplayers are recruited in the Dominican Republic is VERY different from the US. Here, ballplayers are signed young--so young that the leagues have been able to get great players for a fraction of their cost domestically. How do you do that? Well, here is where some obscure Major League rules come into play. It seems that ball players in this country can be signed at age 16 but only after July 1st. So, the hottest prospects are usually signed in a frenzy on the 1st--and the longer it takes to get signed, the smaller the bonuses and the more likely it is they won't be signed at all. So, there is a huge incentive to sign them AND to convince baseball you are only 16. 17, 18 and 19 year-olds are considered more risky--and command much, much smaller bonuses. So, for the poor Dominicans, there's a very strong incentive to lie about your age or even who you are. A very good 18 year-old player will seem like a god compared to kids who are only 16! So, the League actually does a lot of vetting to determine if the prospects are only 16--with medical tests and careful examination of the player's records. This film is about two of these top prospects, Jean Carlos Batista and Miguel Angel Sano, and it follows them through this recruiting season. Let's just say that there are lots of hiccups and surprises along the way for both of these guys!Overall, this is a fascinating little film--one that might surprise you in many ways and which teaches you a lot about what a big business baseball really is! Well worth seeing.

"They are the product to be sold", one of the coaches says during the documentary. I don't remember which coach said it about his player, from whom he planned to profit, but it was said nonetheless, and that basically sums up the tenor of this documentary. There really are no heroes or villains in this, except perhaps the Orioles "talent scout" who appears to trigger an investigations into one player's age order to artificially lower the player's value and buffalo the player and his coach into signing on the cheap. It's all just shrugged off as if to say "that's baseball." For the extreme pragmatist, baseball is entertainment and players and their amazing skills provide that entertainment. Players in this system are examined and graded like diamonds and little concern seems to be expended toward their lives beyond the commodity value they can bring to the entertainment business. It's an extremely raw, open and telling dynamic that's on display in this documentary, and it's hard not to see your own work situations in light of what's displayed here.

Having worked for a Major League ballclub as one of the front-line employees, I know very well that "MLB" is "the owners", and the owners are all about the money. The little people get abused within this system, and the Dominican players, while not under the control of MLB ( there is no official MLB farm system there) clearly get manipulated here by the owners (MLB), so that the owners can keep signing costs low, or relatively low.This film takes us on a personal journey with two Dominican prospects as they approach "July 2nd", the biggest day in their lives----- the day they can officially sign a major league contract worth millions. Or so they think. It becomes clear that the owners (MLB) have no intention of letting the signing bonus frenzy continue as top prospects in 2008 garnered 4-5 million dollars to sign. It is clear that the Dominican prospects are valued differently because they are poor, and likely poorly represented. Some of the Dominican prospects are excellent. The fact is that the Dominican players can't compare evenly with a college player or a high school player in the US because of training regimens, equipment, and quality of coaching. Nevertheless, the Dominican players are manipulated by the owners (MLB) in what appears to be collusion.The owners, represented by "scouts", create "buzz" about players in order to affect which teams seek to sign them. The owners, based on past experience, circulate gossip about which players may be dishonestly representing their ages, in order to reduce the potential signing bonuses. The movie shows how real a threat the dishonesty is to the process. Apparently, a 16-year old Dominican player is worth much more than a 17-year-old player. This does not compare to the US players, who are actually viewed as better prospects in their late teens or even their early 20's having come from college environments. So, the Dominicans get different treatment, not all of it fair or justified. This was the interesting part of this film, and the owners (MLB) need to be careful. I highly recommend this film to baseball fans!

well created, clean and well executed journalism. The discipline and dedication it was placed it in this documentary was showcased. I can't say enough great things about this and I am beyond surprised why the low rating. If you are interested on watching great journalism, and a true story of Dominican baseball, then watch it. I can guarantee you won't be disappointed, that is unless you look at the MLB as a glorified company. If you are a baseball fan, watch it , hey, even if you are not. The MLB as it was mentioned in this documentary, is nothing but a "mafia" If you watch it you'll understand why. That is not to say, this doesn't apply to any other sport, but predominantly baseball. innocence, vulnerability and desperation are key - amongst other things.