Houston Astros Oz Ocampo looks for a strong future- MLB News
Many Major League teams strengthen their rosters by the way of hiring players from overseas. There is plenty of raw talent outside the US that can perform when provided with the right environment and right set of opportunities.
For this purpose, every team has dedicated international scouts who look to find the best players in overseas leagues to groom and add them as assets to their organisations.
Houston Astros recently hired director of international scouting, Oz Ocampo, knows all about it. Since there has been a major revamp in the Houston ball club’s front office, Oz has been busier than usual.
Many of the overseas players have performed wonders for their teams and the current New York Yankees hitter Ichiro Suzuki and Miguel Cabrera are a testament of that statement. It is generally Dominican Republic and Venezuela though that contribute the most
from outside the US in terms of Major League players.
Oz is well aware of that and has been travelling to witness the talent first hand. He believes that the two countries have a lot of talent and thorough home work needs to be done in order to be able to get the cream of players.
"There's so much depth in the [Dominican] and [Venezuela] that you really have to do your homework and do your job to evaluate players to make the best decision," he said.
He recently was at the Astros Academy in Dominican Republic and saw the ongoing work there. Soon Oz will be travelling to Panama, Columbia, Curacao and Nicaragua.
Ocampo holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and started his career in the Major Leagues in 2005 for the St. Louis Cardinals. At the start of his career, he had an opportunity to work with current general manager of the Houston Astros, Jeff Luhnow.
A couple of years into the job, he took the position of amateur scouting and Midwest area scout. In 2009, he was named as the coordinator of international player development, a position in which he was entrusted with several other responsibilities as well.
Jeff Luhnow is quite impressed by the 29-year-old Ocampo’s skills. He believes that Oz can be useful part of the Astros Organisation with his skills.
"Oz brings a unique blend of skills and experience to a critical area for the Astros," Luhnow said.
Oz himself is aware of the value of such hiring’s and how they can impact a team. "Some of those players are impact players at the big league level," Ocampo said. "It's a big focus for us. I'm putting all my efforts into this, and we're just focusing on
really improving our operations in Latin America, Asia, etc."
Oz Ocampo is young and energetic and has the experience to carry him well in the new role. It would be a delight for the Houston Astros and its fans if he is able to unearth some diamonds for the ball club that can help the team’s rebuilding and beyond.
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