It should be a celebration in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday night, with the American League wild-card game pitting native sons Luis Severino of the Yankees and Ervin Santana of the Twins against one another.
It won’t be a celebration per se for Donny Rowland. The Yankees’ director of international scouting has a clear rooting interest in this one. Yet any time you can watch a wild-card contest and know you gave both starting pitchers their first professional contract, it’s a good day.
“The percentage of players reaching the major leagues, whether it’s domestic or international, is so low that when someone that you sign or your group has signed reaches the major leagues and has a reasonably successful career, there’s always satisfaction there,” Rowland said Monday in a telephone interview. “Because scouts and directors, particularly directors, understand the odds and understand the percentages and have very, very thick skin.”
Rowland and his staff committed $225,000 to a 17-year-old Severino in December 2011, and the Yankees are already well in the black on that modest investment. More than 11 years earlier, Rowland, having recently departed the Yankees to run the Angels’ acquisitions of both domestic and international amateur talent, watched a 17-year-old Santana throw at Anaheim’s ballpark.
“He was a highly touted, high-profile prospect. Everyone knew about him,” Rowland said. “We were in competition with the Yankees for him at that time, and I had just come over from the Yankees. He was a very lean, projectable, high-ceiling prospect. His stuff was good for his age. He had a really quick arm, very good mound demeanor.”
The Angels, owned by Disney, wanted to make an impact in the international market. They won the Santana bidding in December 2000 with a signing bonus of $720,000, Rowland said.
Santana has proceeded to put together a very impressive career; he’s currently with the Twins, his fourth team, on a four-year, $55 million contract. Rowland, meanwhile, left the Angels after 2003, spent time as a player agent and as a Royals official and returned to the Yankees in 2007.
It’ll be a momentous night for the 54-year-old executive. Much more momentous, though, if his younger acquisition Severino prevails.