Trainers Siphon Dominican Signing Bonuses

Major League Baseball’s talent pipeline in the Dominican Republic is supported by hundreds of private academies and 'buscones' (trainers) who provide housing and coaching to children and then take 35–50% of their future signing bonuses; teams also use unwritten early agreements with players as young as 11, and local moneylenders pressure families to assign future payouts for high‑interest advances. ProPublica’s analysis finds teams paid $1.042 billion to Dominican prospects from 2012 to 2026 and estimates up to roughly half a billion dollars is diverted to trainers and lenders, leaving the players and families economically precarious despite the industry’s huge revenues. — This reframes major‑league recruitment as an international labor and financial‑regulation problem—raising questions about child protection, cross‑border enforcement, and corporate accountability for how U.S. sports firms source talent.