Fantino, Dominican Republic – A CBL scout, Kevin Fagg, has no idea why he’s here. After spending a week scouting some of the Dominican Republic’s top prospects, Fagg finds himself in a small, remote town scouting a player nobody’s ever heard of. Fagg had heard a few of the players talking about “some kid from Fantino” that could do it all. He’d only played a few pick-up games with them recently, but these kids were in awe of his ability. After asking the right people and hearing a little bit more about this kid from Fantino, Fagg headed to the small town. After arriving at the baseball “field”, Fagg wonders why the hell he made this trip in the first place.
The field is literally a field; not in the baseball sense, but in the farming sense. It’s just an empty area of long grass that Gutierrez’s parents don’t use for their crops. There’s no fences. Basepaths exist, but only because the field has been used so much the grass has simply disappeared from the places people run. A giant patch of missing grass signifies the pitching mound, and the “outfield” grass is long enough to hide the ball for long periods of time.
A lanky teenager struts into the box, wearing a backward Seattle Mariners cap. I will later learn this is no accident; the prospect in question might be the world’s biggest Ken Griffey Jr. fan. He smiles at Kevin, knowing full well the middle-aged white man is the guy he needs to impress. The lanky teenager calls for time, and decides to head over to Mr. Fagg. The man pitching, Dominican manager Pepe Flores, has previously managed for the 2017 Captain Cook Pirates in the Winter League. At this time, Flores was unemployed. He often offers up his time to prospects on scouting visits like this. He acts as an advisor, helping set up the workouts, but does it all for free. Flores is one of the good guys in baseball. Gutierrez extends his arm, and in almost perfect English, the 16-year-old welcomes Kevin to Fantino, and thanks him for the chance. Then Antonio tells him he’s not going to regret it.
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Antonio Gutierrez was born in the town of Fantino, which is located in the Sanchez Ramirez province of the Dominican Republic. A small town of just under 23,000 people, Fantino is a place even most Dominicans haven’t heard of. Gutierrez grew up as the middle of three children, something he credits for his strong work ethic and even more impressive intelligence. His parents were coffee farmers, almost always working early mornings and late nights.
Gutierrez was always the most athletic kid in his town, but in a town so small with very little organized sport, it wasn’t seen in the same way a prodigal American athlete might be. Sure, he was faster than every kid he played with, even the adults noticed. But there was no use for it, they thought.
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Gutierrez is slapping the ball hard into the left center gap; then Bam! he strokes one a long ways to right field. With no fences, it’s difficult to judge, but there’s some power in this lanky kid, Fagg thinks to himself. The swing is incredibly pretty. It’s clear just how much he idolized Griffey.
After a few ground balls, Gutierrez strokes a few line drives to right center before he’s told to stop. They need to see how he runs and throws.
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By coincidence, one of Gutierrez’s first teachers, Sean Respin, was an American. A former college baseball player who had gotten his teaching degree had decided to teach overseas for a few years. The school was the only place that had any kind of satellite TV, which had been donated by a European tech company basically as a Beta for certain less populated regions of the Dominican Republic. There was ESPN Classic on-demand, and Mr. Respin would often watch old Home Run Derbies after school before heading home.
One day, Antonio had come back to borrow a pencil, when Mr. Respin had the 1999 Home Run Derby playing. Antonio said he fell in love with baseball right then. He watched the entire derby with Mr. Respin, in awe mostly of Ken Griffey Jr. Even an 8-year-old who’d never played baseball before could tell how amazing Ken Griffey Jr. was. Everything looked so simple, Gutierrez later tells me. Almost everyone in Gutierrez’s class began to stay an extra hour after school just to watch some old baseball clip that had recently been added. Antonio wasn’t often allowed to stay, however, because his parents needed his help on their farm. Every Friday became every other Friday and then once a month. But it didn’t matter. His love of baseball had begun. Mr. Respin taught them the rules, helped them set up reasonable distances for bases, and he managed to get a dozen baseball gloves and 3 bats, along with a bucket of balls, donated from his former college.
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Fagg counts off 60 yards, trying to find the spots with the least grass. This is just ridiculous, he thinks to himself. This kid isn’t going to be able to run in this crap.
But my God did he run. 6.26 on Fagg’s stop watch. That’s incredibly fast for a professional player; it’s out of this world for a 16-year-old kid. Fagg checks the tape on his phone, and has it timed as well. 6.24. He shows Pepe Flores, who just smiles and starts walking toward the dugout. “Increíble!” he shouts triumphantly.
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Antonio isn’t only the most athletic kid in Fantino, he’s also clearly the brightest. He can speak four languages, despite never having any kind of school lessons in any. He’s thoughtful and polite with the town’s elderly, which is most of the town. He avoids trouble, and is extremely well respected in his community. He’s a hard worker, but occasionally slacks off when he can get away with it. Hardly surprising for such a gifted kid.
He picked up the mental parts of baseball almost immediately. Whether this was because he first learned about baseball by watching rather than doing, or if it was simply the way Antonio’s mind worked is impossible to know. When Mr. Respin decided it was time to go back to the US to teach after four years in Fantino, Gutierrez was sad. He would miss all of their baseball talk.
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At this point, Fagg has seen enough. He tells GM Doug Trojanowski that he’s found a player in the Dominican, and has signed him to the International Complex. The organization promises to open an academy in Fantino, allowing Gutierrez the chance to stay with his family. This is a big concession for an organization to make for just one player; especially one that signed for less than $5,000.
Other organizations aren’t quite sure what the deal is; but they highly doubt the team will follow through with their promise. That’s too big of a venture in a place with virtually no other talent. The money would just be wasted, they believed.
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Family has always been a major part of Antonio’s life. He looked up to his older sister and adored his little brother; they were all incredibly close. The family laughs about old times, like the one where 3-year-old Antonio was running around the town completely naked after sneaking outside after his nap and ripping off his diaper.
“Even at 3 I bet nobody could catch him,” our producer smirks.
His parents eventually caught up to him about a block down the road, playing with a clothed child like it was no big deal. Everyone laughs at this for minutes. The family clearly enjoys each others presence. But they are so excited for Antonio and his future. There’s no jealousy; just pride.
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On September 25, 2020, Antonio Gutierrez officially signed his contract with the Minneapolis Millers organization, who would soon move to Erie and become the Seawolves. Kevin Fagg was their scouting director. On the same day, the Caroline County Channel Cats announced they would be moving their organization to Minneapolis once Erie was set up. This was a preference of the league commissioner, as the Millers had been growing their fan base over the last few years. Gutierrez would of course remain property of Erie after the move.
After Caroline County announced the move, the local media was making life difficult for them, understandably angry that Caroline County was losing their professional baseball team. Whether it was a calculated decision to change the headlines or just a coincidence, the Channel Cats announced that they were firing their current manager, German Gilg Jebens. The former Traverse City hitting coach was a bit too temperamental for Caroline County’s front office, and they wanted to go in their own direction. He finished with an 81-136 record in parts of two seasons.
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While Antonio Gutierrez has signed and is officially a member of the soon to be Erie Seawolves, he remains worried. It doesn’t appear that the organization has began to build anything in Fantino, and Gutierrez knows it might never happen. He’s unsure what it would mean for his future or where he’d need to go to play, but as each day passes, it seems clear to him that their will be no International Complex in Fantino. Pepe Flores tells him he’ll get to the bottom of it.
After a few phone calls, Flores is informed that Erie might ultimately trade Gutierrez. After scouting Fantino extensively, it was clear that there was no other real talent in the area. The team simply couldn’t commit the necessary resources for an International Complex for one player, as league executives had expected. Flores wasn’t surprised, but he was still angry. He felt they had an agreement, but he understood the team’s viewpoint. Just as Flores was getting ready to call Antonio, he received a call from Caroline County’s front office. They were interested in interviewing him for their managerial opening.
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After Flores scheduled his interview, he called Antonio and told him it looked unlikely that he’d be able to stay in Fantino much longer. Gutierrez told Flores if he was able to get a job in the new Minneapolis organization, to try and bring him along. Flores explained that he’d have very little say in personnel matters, but he’d do his best.
Gutierrez wasn’t surprised, but still a bit sad. He was excited to start his career, but he thought he was going to get to do it at home. He knew how lucky he was to even get the opportunity to play pro baseball, though, so his attitude changed quickly. He no longer expected to stay close to home. That was fine.
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On December 9, 2020, Minneapolis (formerly Caroline County) announced that Pepe Flores was their new manager. The league collectively looked at each other and said “who?”
“To be frank, we were blown away by Mr. Flores,” a team source tells me. “He had strong opinions on certain topics, but he had clearly studied them immensely. He showed a great willingness to adapt his beliefs if new evidence comes available.”
Flores has very little experience, and this decision has many league executives scratching their heads. The team is clearly hoping he can grow along with their younger core players. Some around the league think the team needed a more veteran presence, but we’ll see how he does.
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After the new Millers organization announced Flores as their new manager, Gutierrez called and congratulated him. He was happy for Pepe. He was happier after Flores made it clear that the organization was trying to acquire Gutierrez. They were incredibly impressed by the cell phone video footage Flores had managed to tape, mainly because of the incredible 60 yard dash time. Gutierrez was excited and nervous. He had no idea what his future held.
Despite the video, the organization still wanted to set up a private workout so their scout could see him with his own eyes. After getting permission from Doug Trojanowski, the new Millers organization were present during a daily workout for Antonio, along with a small contingent of Erie’s front office. After a two hour workout doing mostly generic drills and batting practice, the executives had seen enough. They’d be in touch during the winter meetings, Minneapolis told Erie.
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After scouting director Eric Kubota saw Gutierrez, he knew he had to have him. Here’s a copy of his scouting report that we were able to obtain:
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On December 17, after hours of negotiating between Erie and Minneapolis, the Seawolves and Millers had finally come to an agreement that would headline the Winter Meetings. Erie sent 3B Joey Gallo and outfielder Antonio Gutierrez to the Millers in exchange for 1B Carlos Andres Diaz, SP Bob Hunter, LF Anibal Infante and SP Oliver Rodriguez.
Gutierrez was heading to the organization that had just hired Flores. He was excited. While there’s certainly no guarantee that Flores will still be around when/if Gutierrez is finally CBL ready, it was clear to Antonio that Flores had spoken up for him just days after being hired. And while the Millers were intrigued by Gutierrez, they were much more interested in acquiring Joey Gallo to improve their incredibly weak offense. The team made a deal that both got them a player they liked in the present as well as a prospect they liked for their long-term future.
“It was tough giving up Diaz and Hunter especially,” A Millers source tells me. “But we really needed some big bats in our lineup; now with Hunter moved we need to hope some of our young pitching prospects turn out well to help replace his production.” Hunter posted a 3.18 ERA in 18 starts after being traded to Caroline County last season.
While Gallo is the big name that will be tracked daily around the league, Gutierrez is someone that should be fun to watch mature and grow in the minor leagues.
