Sox part ways with Paddy, search for new international scouting head

CHICAGO –--The White Sox have parted ways with Marco Paddy, who was in the midst of his 12th season in charge of international operations for the organization.

Paddy was honored as the 2022 International Scout of the Year at the Dec. ‘22 Winter Meetings in San Diego. The native of Panama also was instrumental in the signing of Cuban Luis Robert to a Minor League contract with a $26 million signing bonus in May 2017, as well as 150 international free agents during his tenure.

But some of the higher profile international additions in recent years didn’t pan out nearly as well as Robert. Those players included outfielder Yoelqui Céspedes for a $2.05 million bonus (No. 1 overall international prospect) and right-handed pitcher Norge Vera for a $1.5 million bonus in ‘21, as well as outfielder Micker Adolfo with a $1.6 million bonus in 2013 and infielder Yolbert Sanchez with a $2.5 million bonus in ‘19.

None of those players reached the Major Leagues or remained with the White Sox. Filling Paddy’s position is to be determined by Chicago, in regard to going outside the organization or reorganizing from within.

“Philosophically, it’s an avenue that a lot of organizations are utilizing now in order to [improve the] depth of the system and those kinds of things,” said White Sox director of player development Paul Janish. “I know we’re in talks, hopefully, to get a new facility down there [in the Dominican Republic], which is exciting.

“I’m a believer, in general. I enjoy going down there. We’ve even talked about taking some of our American guys down to the D.R. during instructs, just from a culture-sharing [standpoint] and understanding where some of their teammates come from. Moving forward, it will be a big part of what we’re trying to do.”

Building a stronger international base is part of general manager Chris Getz’s overall plan for White Sox growth.

“We are in the process of improving our academy down in the Dominican Republic,” said Getz during a recent interview. “We’ve put a lot of work and research into locations and we plan on focusing there even more in the coming months to find a facility that’s going to be advantageous for us.

“We’ll continue to modernize our international process. So that’s definitely an area that remains a focus for us.”