The Week in International Baseball (15-21 December)

As the Central American Games continued, the rest of the baseball world had plenty going on.

Great Britain’s Jazz Chisholm was listed by John Sickels as the No. 8 prospect in the Diamondbacks’ system (tweet).

We previewed the showdown between Nicaragua and Panamá (link) and live-tweeted it, noting the emergence of Ismael Munguia. We also pointed out who was missing from the Panamanian side:

Panamá could really use one of its MLB players, which include Carlos Ruiz, Rubén Tejada, Randall Delgado, Cristián Bétancourt, Johan Camargo, Allen Córdoba, Paolo Espino, or Enrique Burgos.

— Extra Innings UK (@ExtraInningsUK) December 16, 2017

The game broke attendance records at Dennis Martínez Stadium in Managua (tweet). Online viewership was also superb:

Almost 2k watching via Facebook Live, with 13k+ views, 370 shares, and going on 900 interactions. #CentralAmericanGames #JuegosCentroamericanos

— Extra Innings UK (@ExtraInningsUK) December 16, 2017

We gave the standings after Day 4 (tweet) and profiled surprising El Salvador, which advanced to the bronze medal game (tweet). We also had a look at Costa Rica (tweet).

Meanwhile, the games continued in Hong Kong, with the hosts stealing the show (tweet).

Nicaragua and Panamá qualified for the Central American Games gold medal game and we offered the final standings as well:

Final standings in pool play at the #CentralAmericanGames. Bronze medal game tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST/3 p.m. GMT between Guatemala and El Salvador, while Nicaragua & Panamá will battle at 4:30 p.m. EST/9:30 p.m. GMT. The latter game will be streamed live at https://t.co/eIJx4U9Sao pic.twitter.com/hBPpeRgqpg

— Extra Innings UK (@ExtraInningsUK) December 17, 2017

We received word that the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in the Bahamas would be streamed live on Facebook (tweet).

The Central American Games’ championship featured the electric Roniel Raudes once again, plus plenty of heroics from Cheslor Cuthbert as Nicaragua won the title (tweet). The final can still be viewed online (link). Online viewership was sensational for the game: 127k views, 3.8k likes, 6.8k comments, and 2.1k shares.

Puerto Rico’s NT announced that eight teams had qualified for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games in Colómbia, though we were are unaware what the qualification was:

Nicaragua es el octavo equipo clasificado del béisbol rumbo a los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe @Bquilla2018, del 19 al 29 de julio.

Equipos clasificados:

Puerto Rico🇵🇷
Nicaragua🇳🇮
República Dominicana🇩🇴
Colombia🇨🇴
Cuba🇨🇺
México🇲🇽
Panamá🇵🇦
Venezuela🇻🇪

— Equipo Nacional Béisbol 🇵🇷 (@BeisbolPR) December 18, 2017

With Dennis Martinez Stadium playing centre stage at the Central American Games, Colómbia’s national stadium, named after another Latino legend, Edgar Renteria, is being built (tweet).

Arizona State’s baseball coach, Tracy Smith, made headlines for recruiting in Japan (tweet).

The Yankees signed a pitcher, Ryan Bollinger, who excelled in Germany and is playing in Australia (link). Though Bollinger is not a prospect, it is the third signing out of Germany this year, joining Niklas Rimmel (Twins) and Marco Cardoso (Red Sox).

We broke the news in English that Nicaragua was awarded the Under-23 Baseball World Cup, to be played in October 2018 (tweet).

Previous articles in this series include:
1-14 December (link)
15-30 November (link)
1-14 November (link)
15-31 October (link)
1-14 October (link)
Month of September (link)
27 August-2 September (link)
20-26 August (link)