The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIANS continue to garner attention and receive opportunities during Major League Baseball's international signing period.

Davonn Mackey was the latest to ink a deal with an MLB franchise when he signed with the Oakland Athletics in a deal that includes a $225,000 signing bonus.

Mackey took a route seldom travelled by Bahamian players and signed out of In the BigInning Baseball Academy in Maracay, Venezuela.

The Grand Bahama native was recently a member of the gold medal-winning team for Grand Bahama Little League in the 16-18 division of the Bahamas Baseball Federation's Andre Rodgers National Championship.

He becomes the second player to join the Athletics' farm system following Simeon Humes in the late 1960s.

BigInning Academy offers elite level skills training for prospective players on the path to professional baseball.

The academy's mission statement published on its website lists it In the BigInning as:

"An organisation of sports character oriented to prepare in an integral way athletes with high conditions and aspirations to arrive at the Major Leagues under a systematised work that allows athletes to fulfil the exigencies of the best baseball in the world.

"To carry out this task, we have personnel specialised in the different physical aspects of baseball practice, as well as support in the area of health and education. The services are oriented to the development and optimum performance of each of our young people, as athletes and citizens, in large part, due to the unsurpassable quality of our services."

Mackey follows the trio of Kristian Robinson (Arizona Diamondbacks), D'Shawn Knowles and Trent Deveaux (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) who signed on July 2.

According to MLB.com, nearly 6,000 international prospects have registered to sign with Major League clubs to make themselves eligible for this period.

More than 600 prospects signed during the last international signing period, which ends June 15, 2018.

Prospects from countries around the world have registered for the current period, including those from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Aruba, the Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Belarus, Brazil, the British Virgin Islands, Czech Republic, Curacao, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.

The recent impact of Bahamians on the period prompted MLB.com international reporter Jessie Sanchez to call the Bahamas an "emerging market in baseball and a country to definitely keep an eye on."