Pirates international signing period event in Venezuela

PITTSBURGH — Junior Vizcaino and the Pirates’ international scouting department wanted to change things up to launch this year’s international signing period.

Vizcaino, Pittsburgh’s director of international scouting, and the entirety of Pittsburgh’s international leadership group hosted a signing day event in Valencia, Venezuela, to begin the international signing period, a rare instance in which a team sends its entire international leadership group to Venezuela for signing day.

“[It’s] for the kids and their families,” Vizcaino said. “It’s a special day. It’s their day. Our group, we take pride in that day because it’s a combination of hard work for the whole year. We want to make it so that the families are happy and that they have a good day.”

Along with Vizcaino, international supervisors Jesus Lantigua and Saul Torres, senior advisor for Latin American operations Luis Silver and the rest of the club’s Venezuelan scouting staff will be in attendance as well. On January 17, the Pirates’ international staff will travel to the organization’s baseball academy in the Dominican Republic to host an event for their Dominican signees as well.

“I think it’s symbolic and illustrates our commitment to go anywhere in the world to find players and our commitment to those kids and their families that are from Venezuela,” said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington. “[It’s] important for them to be able to celebrate this moment in their homes, on their home soil, and not have to fly somewhere else to do it.”

While the Pirates’ international leadership group regularly travels to the Dominican Republic for international signing day, trips to Venezuela are not as common — not just for the Pirates, but for all teams. Venezuela is currently in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis. Due to the myriad of challenges, Venezuelan players often travel to another country to sign with a team, and it is uncommon for teams to send their international leadership groups to Venezuela.

Vizcaino pointed out that Venezuelan players — and their families — are bound to notice that most teams make trips to the Dominican Republic, but not Venezuela. He and his staff wanted to change that trend, to show that the Pirates can have a presence in Venezuela and are willing to put on the event. With the help of the organization’s scouts in Venezuela, the team will make it happen.

“Our scouts in Venezuela on the ground did a good job getting a…